Floor Statements

Mr. President, on another matter, today the Senate will also vote on an effort by my Democratic colleagues to strip away health insurance options for families whom ObamaCare has failed.

The first 4 years of the ObamaCare experience was one of failure after failure--skyrocketing premiums and broken websites built on broken promises. Many families were caught right in the middle of the ObamaCare mess--those who earned too much to receive subsidies but not enough to keep pace with premiums--so it became even more important to look for alternatives. The American people are resourceful. Some held on to so-called grandfathered and grandmothered plans, and others looked for lower cost, short-term plans that could be held for up to a year.

We all know that Big Government doesn't like it when citizens try to avoid the micromanagement and run their own lives as they see fit, so in the waning months of the Obama administration, Democrats issued a new regulation that cut these plans from 12 months down to 3 months and made them nonrenewable. I guess the goal was to force even more Americans into ObamaCare. The real effect was just to punish these people twice for Democrats' bad policy.

Fortunately, this year the Trump administration righted the ship. They undid the restriction and restored the status quo that was in place from the 1990s through most of the Obama administration. It was a simple fix. It doesn't take away the choices they have under ObamaCare but empowers Americans to use this alternative choice if they prefer it. According to even the liberal Urban Institute, more than 1.7 million Americans will likely be insured with this option, who otherwise would have gone uninsured. But apparently our Democratic colleagues can't tolerate even this modest step away from top-down government control. They have introduced a resolution of disapproval to overturn the Trump administration's fix and snatch these options away from families once more. We will be voting on it today.

I know my Democratic colleagues are embarrassed by the state of ObamaCare. It has been more than 8 years since they passed their signature law that was supposed to make it all better. Instead, working Americans are saddled with increasing costs and decreasing choices. But surely they must have a better answer than snatching away one of the remaining options that some Americans still prefer to anything Democrats have been able to come up with.

This is an easy decision. I urge every one of my colleagues to vote against this resolution. Our constituents deserve more options, not fewer. The last thing we should do is destroy one of the options that is still actually working for American families.

Mr. President, one final matter. While the Senate was focused on Justice Kavanaugh's confirmation last Friday, our economy reached a major milestone. According to the latest Department of Labor report, unemployment in the United States of America has now fallen to 3.7 percent. That is the lowest unemployment rate since 1969. It is now 3.7 percent--the lowest unemployment rate since 1969. The share of Americans who are seeking work but cannot find it is as low as it has been in just shy of 50 years.

There was other good news as well. Unlike what happened too often in the previous decade, this drop in unemployment did not come from discouraged workers giving up their search altogether; to the contrary, 150,000 more Americans joined the labor force last month, and the unemployment rate still went down. Now, that is an opportunity economy. That is exactly what an opportunity economy looks like.

Day after day, my Republican colleagues and I have come to the floor and outlined all the things we are doing to try to help generate precisely this kind of economic momentum for the American people. This unified Republican government has rolled back regulations and cut redtape at a pace that hasn't been seen for years. We have handed American families and job creators the most significant Tax Code overhaul in 30 years, lower tax rates, a bigger child tax credit, more help with small businesses, and better incentives to invest and create jobs right here on American soil. Our actions have been clear, and our economy is sending equally clear signals in response: the highest consumer confidence we have seen in nearly 18 years, the highest small business confidence we have seen in 35 years, and now the lowest unemployment rate we have seen in almost half a century.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Government itself is not creating this prosperity. Republicans know that growth starts with workers and entrepreneurs, not with Washington. Government can either put the wind in America's faces or at their backs, and there is little question which way the wind has been blowing these past 2 years. It certainly is not ``Armageddon'' or ``crumbs,'' as the House Democratic leader notoriously proclaimed in recent months. It is not a ``disaster,'' as my friend the Senate Democratic leader has suggested. No, it is rising wages, more job opportunities, and new investment, and it is reaching kitchen tables in communities large and small all across our country. The real winners here are the American people. Republicans are just proud that our policies are helping them do what they do best.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the provision of rule XXII, all postcloture time on the Clark nomination be considered expired at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, October 11, and that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning

business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 670 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 671, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 672, submitted earlier today.

I know of no further debate on the measure.

I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 447, S. 1305.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Thursday, October 11; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Clark nomination as under the previous order.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, first, I want to convey a few words of thanks to our dedicated Ambassador to the United Nations, who we just learned will be stepping down at the end of the year.

Our Nation has benefited greatly from the tough, skilled leadership that Nikki Haley brought to the U.N. Her tenure will be remembered for her proud reassertion of American moral leadership and her fearless willingness to turn a bright spotlight on critical challenges, from Israeli's sovereignty to Iran's sponsorship of regional violence.

Ambassador Haley has been a key part of the administration's team that has faced down a wide variety of critical challenges, and she has done so with distinction.

She took on this role after an impressive 6 years as Governor of South Carolina and quickly proved to be both be a skillful advocate for our national interest and a forceful spokeswoman for our principles.

I hope this is not the end of Ambassador Haley's distinguished career in public service. I thank her for her significant contributions to our country.

Confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh

Mr. President, on another matter, yesterday, I was pleased to attend the ceremonial swearing-in for the newest member of our Supreme Court-- Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Justice Kavanaugh's remarks yesterday affirmed yet again what his record and his testimony clearly told us: He will be a thoughtful, fairminded Justice who is committed to applying our laws and our Constitution as they are actually written.

His confirmation last week was a victory for the very same principles of fairness and justice we can now count on with him--along with his fellow Justices--to uphold.

Saturday's vote was also a victory for the Senate--for this institution--and for the integrity of this institution. Reason and deliberation triumphed over what was literally--literally--an attempt to sway the Senate using mob tactics. I wish this were an exaggeration, but it isn't.

While many came to Washington peacefully to share their stories, the loudest voices proved to be those of the politically motivated far left--the same far left special interests that had pledged total opposition to any Supreme Court nominee before the ink

was even dry on Justice Kennedy's retirement. They pulled out all the stops. They did everything they could.

When it became clear Justice Kavanaugh's nomination would not be stopped on the merits--well, as we know, that was only the beginning. The far-left activists decided that the U.S. Senate and their Members should be harassed and intimidated wherever they might be--in a restaurant with family, getting out of their own car, or in their own homes; anything went.

When they did not get their way, when these tactics failed to sway us, they just turned up the anger even more. Protestors disregarded the men and women of the Capitol Police, trampled barricades, stormed the steps of the Capitol and the Supreme Court, climbed on statues, and tried to literally shout down Senators right in the middle of a rollcall vote in the Senate.

When the dust settled, literally hundreds of arrests had been made. Extraordinary security measures were required to protect the Senate, the Supreme Court, as well as the Kavanaugh family. Members of this body and Senate staff have received threats of violence and murder.

After all that, I am afraid the far left had succeeded in only one thing: They made it even more difficult for the vast majority of Americans to take them seriously. They made it difficult for most Americans to take these people seriously.

The madness hasn't stopped. They are already signaling that even more drastic steps may be necessary now that Justice Kavanaugh is on the Court.

Some leftwing publications are already trying to lay the groundwork for--you guessed it--literally packing the Court with more Justices. That is right. The far left has gone scrounging through the ash heap of American history, and they are bandying about that discredited fantasy from back in the 1930s.

In the meantime, while the groundwork is laid for that scheme, one far-left pressure group is already trying to circulate petitions that Justice Kavanaugh should be impeached--Justice Kavanaugh should be impeached.

The mob would like to make themselves perfectly clear. If Democrats were to retake Congress, ``progessives expect them to use their full power to get Kavanaugh off the bench.''

So it is pretty obvious. The all-consuming animosity toward this nominee, independent of all the facts and all the evidence, is still being stoked. The far-left mob is not letting up.

Early today, former Secretary of State Clinton sent this signal as clear as day--this is Secretary Clinton. She told CNN exactly how she views millions of Americans who hold different political views from her own. Here is what she said:

You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to

destroy what you stand for. . . . If we are fortunate enough

to win back the House and/or the Senate, that's when civility

can start again.

No peace until they get their way? More of these unhinged tactics?

Apparently, this is the left's rallying cry, but fortunately the American people know the fact-free politics of hate, fear, and intimidation are not how we actually govern in our democratic Republic.

The Senate and the Nation will not be intimidated.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, following leader remarks on Wednesday, October 10, Senator Schumer or his designee be recognized to make a motion to proceed to S.J. Res 63; further that the time until 11:30 a.m. be equally divided between the leaders or their designees for use on the joint resolution and message concurrently; further, that at 11:30 a.m., all postcloture time on the motion to concur in the House amendments be considered expired and the motion to concur with further amendment be withdrawn; finally, that following the disposition of the motion to concur, all time on S.J. Res 63 be considered expired and the Senate vote on the joint resolution.