Floor Statements

Mr. President, the Senate is back in session this August for a simple reason: We have more to do for the families across America who count on us to work hard and to fight for them. That is why the next legislation the Senate will consider is a pair of critically important appropriations bills that will fund our national defense, along with the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Talk about subjects that are vital to the American people, at stake is a 2.6-percent pay raise for U.S. servicemembers, the largest pay raise for troops in almost a decade; the equipment, tools, and training they need to complete their mission; and funding to support the necessary programs we just authorized when the John S. McCain National Defense Act became law earlier this week.

At stake are billions of dollars to fight back against the opioid crisis, hundreds of millions to support and retrain American workers who need a boost back into the labor force, hundreds of millions more for employment training specifically for our veterans, funding for the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, and Federal funding for our Nation's schools. I have only scratched the surface. There will be plenty of time in the days ahead to discuss and detail all of the ways this legislation will help our country, as well as to consider amendments.

Yesterday was a promising start. We agreed to proceed to these two important funding bills by consent after we wrap up the nominations that are before us today. Now we need to keep up the collaboration.

There is a reason why it has been quite some time since we have completed a full, regular process. There is a reason why, for example, it has been 15 years--15 years--since the Senate passed the Labor, Health, and Education bill in time for the start of the fiscal year.

This process is not easy. It is hard work for our Appropriations subcommittees and the full committee to craft this legislation. Then, on the floor, we need cooperation from both sides to process amendments, while resisting the temptation to turn the appropriations process into a free-for-all on all manner of policy issues. But this year, that is exactly what we are doing.

The Senate has already passed 7 of 12 bills. In the next several days, we will consider Nos. 8 and 9. Once we finish them, they will encompass more than 87 percent--more than 87 percent--of total discretionary spending--two more big strides toward avoiding another omnibus and appropriating the taxpayers' money in the right way.

Mr. President, first, the Senate is currently considering two well-qualified nominees, both for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Yesterday afternoon, we voted to advance the nomination of Marvin Quattlebaum, a graduate of Rhodes College and the University of South Carolina. He presently serves as a district judge for the District of South Carolina. At noon the Senate will vote to confirm his nomination.

When he was nominated to the Federal bench last year, Judge Quattlebaum received strong, bipartisan support from the Senate. The American Bar Association deemed him unanimously ``well-qualified,'' their highest possible rating.

Once we complete consideration of Judge Quattlebaum, we will turn to Jay Richardson. Mr. Richardson is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of Chicago Law School. He has held clerkships with Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner and with the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Since 2009, he has served as assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina. Current and former peers in the U.S. Attorney's Office say he has a ``well-earned reputation for excellent preparation, good judgment, fairness, and hard work.''

In that role, Mr. Richardson led the successful prosecution of the gunman who murdered nine innocent people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, back in 2015. Our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee have received a letter from Jennifer Pinckney, the wife of the late Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of that senseless violence. Ms. Pinckney wrote to enthusiastically support Mr. Richardson's confirmation. She said that he ``will make a fine jurist.''

I urge my colleagues to join me in voting to confirm both of these impressive nominees.

Mr. President, on one final matter, Members were back in our home States meeting with constituents last week. I had the opportunity to visit a remarkable business in my hometown of Louisville.

Caldwell Tanks has been making large industrial and water storage tanks in Kentucky for over 100 years. It is no secret that they do good business, but when I stopped by on Friday, they had some especially good news to share. In 2018 they invested $100,000 in upgrades to their fleet of cranes. Their 150 Kentucky employees, along with hundreds more in other States, are seeing estimated wage increases of up to 10 percent or more. Preload, Caldwell's sister company, which makes prestressed concrete tanks, has invested $500,000 in new manufacturing equipment.

The company's leadership states that all of these improvements--every one of them--are direct results of the historic tax reform this Republican Congress passed last year.

Tax reform, along with all of our other pro-growth policies, has helped to transform the overall business climate in our country. In the words of Bernie Fineman, Caldwell's CEO, ``the most important thing that it's done is to provide hope''--hope--``for our future.''

So while these developments alone are remarkable, the conditions that made them possible are not a fluke--not in a State that has recently seen its unemployment rate drop to a 42-year low, not in a country where the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits is about as low as it has been in half a century.

Tax reform and regulatory reform helped to make this happen. They helped to unleash free enterprise and give Caldwell's customers the confidence to fill up the warehouse's backlogs and drive up 2018 sales by 14 percent so far.

Caldwell is just one case study in what has become a national phenomenon. Nationwide, consumers are experiencing renewed confidence. Retail sales are up 6.4 percent from July of last year. According to one industry survey, a majority of U.S. manufacturers say this favorable policy climate has been more likely--more likely--to raise wages for their workers.

Bustling warehouses and rising wages weren't exactly what our Democratic colleagues predicted when they railed against tax reform last year or voted in lockstep to oppose its passage, but one would hope that hindsight is helping our Democratic colleagues to see how tax reform and regulatory relief were exactly what the doctor ordered and how they have contributed to a healthy economy that is paying dividends for American workers and middle-class families.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that with respect to the Quattlebaum and Richardson nominations, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3699.

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up en bloc and reported by number: Menendez-Murkowski No. 3705 and Fischer-Baldwin No. 3706. I further ask consent that at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, August 20, the Senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed and that there be no second-degree amendments in order to the amendments prior to the votes.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 608, 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. 609, 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 when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, August 20; 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; that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 6157 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 under the provisions of S. Res. 609.

Mr. President, as the Senate reconvenes to cross more items off our to-do list, we should take pride in all we have already accomplished this summer.

This month alone, we have already advanced the Senate's farm bill to conference and named conferees to finalize this important legislation. We have also passed another set of appropriations measures. The Senate has now approved 7 of the 12 measures for next year, and we finalized the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, which President Trump signed into law on Monday of this week.

The reason we are convening today is that important work remains for the weeks ahead. That includes more progress on appropriations, and it includes confirming more of the President's nominees.

Last week, Chairman Grassley announced that Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whom the President has nominated to serve on the Supreme Court, will begin September 4.

Judge Kavanaugh's testimony will only add to the enormous wealth of information about his legal qualifications, his professional reputation, and his jurisprudence that is already available. Already the committee has received nearly 200,000 pages of material that relate to this nomination. By all accounts, this is already the most material ever submitted for any Supreme Court nomination--the most material ever.

Of course, the best indicator of how Judge Kavanaugh will approach the role of a Federal judge is the way he has discharged his duties as a Federal judge in the 12-plus years he served on the DC Circuit Court--12-plus years, more than 300 opinions.

I can hardly articulate this point better than my friend the senior Senator from Vermont. Back when the Senate was evaluating the nomination of then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Senator Leahy said: We do not have to imagine what kind of a judge she will be because we see the kind of judge she has been.

A number of other prominent Democrats echoed that sentiment, including my friend the Democratic leader. He called Republican requests for additional documents related to the Sotomayor nomination a ``fishing expedition'' and said Republicans were ``grasping at straws.'' My friend from New York said ``everybody knows'' that then- Judge Sotomayor's ``record on the bench'' was ``the best way to evaluate'' her nomination.

So I hope that our Democratic colleagues who are demanding even more documents have taken the time to read the 12 years of opinions from Judge Kavanaugh that they already have. That, of course, will underscore exemplary service on the second highest court in the Nation.

When it was the Supreme Court nominee of a Democratic President, they themselves insisted that judicial opinions were more important than any other papers for evaluating a Supreme Court nominee. Well, well, we have Judge Kavanaugh's opinions, and we have this record-breaking pile of additional materials--far more materials than were produced for the Sotomayor nomination, by the way--12 years of opinions and the most material in history. Every Senator who is actually willing to give this nominee fair consideration will be more than fully equipped to do just that.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the House message to accompany S. 717.

The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 717) entitled

``An Act to promote pro bono legal services as a critical way

in which to empower survivors of domestic violence.'', do

pass with an amendment.

I move to concur in the House amendment, and I ask unanimous consent that the motion be agreed to and that the motions 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 9:30 a.m., Thursday, August 16; 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; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Quattlebaum nomination and that notwithstanding rule XXII, all postcloture time on the nomination be considered expired at noon.

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.