[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 122 (Thursday, July 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5093-S5094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering Eugene Sukup

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I wish to recognize a friend, an 
agricultural innovator, an inventor with I think about 80 patents. His 
name is Eugene Sukup.
  If you travel around the Midwest, you will see there are grain 
operations on a lot of family farms. If you go to Haiti, as a result of 
the catastrophe down there a few years ago, you will see how smaller 
buildings that we would call grain storage facilities in Iowa serve as 
homes for homeless people. That resulted from that catastrophe.
  Eugene Sukup is a quintessential bootstrap American success story. 
After settling in Iowa during the Dust Bowl and serving his Nation as a 
sergeant in the National Guard, Eugene made his living as a farmer, 
earning the title of ``Franklin County Outstanding Farmer'' in his 
younger years, in 1962.
  While working on his farm, like a lot of farmers, he tried to think 
of easier ways to do things. He observed that pockets of grain--
particularly corn--housed in storage bins could overheat and, as a 
result, spoil. Understanding the depth and breadth of the problem for 
farmers across the country, he was determined to find a solution, and 
he did. Through trial and error, along with gritty determination and 
ingenuity, Eugene came up with something he entitled the ``Stirway 
Stirring Machine.'' The innovative technology automated the process of 
stirring stored grain and corn and became an instant success among his 
fellow farmers. Eugene patented his invention and founded the Sukup 
Manufacturing Company in 1963.
  Through my years holding annual meetings in each of Iowa's 99 
counties, Sukup Manufacturing from time to time has hosted the meetings 
I have in Franklin County. After a tour of the factory, I always 
enjoyed Eugene's allowing his employees to have an open Q&A session 
with me so that I could hear what is on the minds of my constituents, 
because these constituents can't afford to leave their jobs and come to 
the courthouse to ask me questions. I try to go to people like them to 
make the process of a representative government work, and the best way 
to do that is face-to-face with your constituents.
  Getting back to Sukup Manufacturing, by words and deeds, it is very 
clear that Sukup Manufacturing is a great place to work and a devoted 
contributor to the local community and global philanthropy. Fifty-five 
years later, the Sukup Manufacturing Company--which was the idea of a 
small family farmer--holds over 80 patents and sells its products in 
more than 85 countries. It remains the largest family-owned, full-line 
grain system manufacturer, employing more than 700 employees in the 
community of Sheffield, IA, and if I had to guess its population, I 
would say it is around 1,500.
  Eugene's pioneering invention contributed to the success of tens of 
thousands of farming operations, allowing farmers to safely store their 
grain on their farms to capture the best market price. We have Sukup 
grain bins on my own family farm near Waterloo, IA; more specifically, 
the little village in New Hartford, IA. His ingenuity is a perfect 
example of the opportunity America's economic system gives people with 
ideas and drive.
  Eugene's legacy spans Iowa's landscape from the Mississippi River to 
the Missouri River and reaches beyond the borders of our State and the 
borders of the United States. Sukup Manufacturing stepped up to 
reconfigure grain bins into housing units, as I previously said, for 
hurricane-ravaged Haiti. The units withstand 140-mile-per-hour winds, 
providing a safe habitat for residents.
  In 2006, Eugene was inducted into Iowa's Inventors Hall of Fame and 
received the Outstanding Innovation Award by the American Society of 
Agricultural and Biological Engineers. He was inducted into Iowa's 
Business Hall of Fame in 2011 and was named a Legend in Manufacturing 
by Elevate Advanced Manufacturing in 2015.
  Through Eugene and its leaders, the Sukup family business has been a 
constant voice for job creation and opportunity. His contribution to 
manufacturing, agriculture, and the entire rural community and our 
economy will be an asset to farmers and the agriculture community for 
generations to come. It is amazing to think of what can happen in rural 
and small towns throughout our country thanks to the successful 
enterprise that Eugene Sukup represents.
  Throughout our decades-long friendship, I have admired his relentless 
work ethic and unwavering commitment to community and family. His 
civil, political, and community leadership sets a very high bar for the 
rest of us in America.
  Eugene was an American inventor, innovator, and a great friend. He 
will be greatly missed. May God bless him and his beloved family.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise in strong opposition to the 
nomination of Ryan Bounds to be a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of 
Appeals.
  Mr. Bounds, who, if confirmed, would serve on a Ninth Circuit seat in 
the State of Oregon, has received zero blue slips. He is opposed by 
both Senators from the State in which he would sit if confirmed.
  Never before in the 100-year history of blue slips has a nominee been 
confirmed over the opposition of both home-State Senators. The 
Republican majority is setting a precedent here, and all of our home 
States are at risk of being impacted by this.
  By moving this nominee without blue slips, Republicans are 
diminishing the voice that home-State constituents have through their 
Senators in the process of selecting judges in their States.
  Let me make it clear to my Republican colleagues: If you vote to 
confirm Ryan Bounds, you are consenting to a precedent that is likely 
to affect your state someday. Consider your vote carefully.
  It is hard to understand why my Republican colleagues would abandon 
the blue slip for the sake of this particular nominee. Mr. Bounds has 
written and published articles that should disqualify him from 
consideration for a Federal judgeship.
  Consider how the Multnomah Bar Association in Oregon--a bar 
association that Mr. Bounds has belonged to for 12 years--described Mr. 
Bounds' articles in a statement after the writings were revealed.
  The association said Bounds' writings ``express insensitive, 
intolerant, and disdaining views toward racial and ethnic minorities, 
campus sexual assault victims, and the LGBTQ community.''
  The statement went on to say that the bar association ``strongly 
disavows the views expressed in those articles as racist, misogynistic, 
homophobic and disparaging of survivors of sexual assault and abuse.''
  Mr. Bounds' writings, which he published in college, included his 
discussions about the ``more strident racial factions of the student 
body.''

[[Page S5094]]

  His writings mocked LGBTQ students for being sensitive when a group 
of drunk athletes vandalized a statue celebrating gay pride.
  He mocked Latino students for being overly sensitive when they 
complained about the termination of a Latino administrator.
  Then he wrote this, in an article about sexual assault on campus: 
``There is really nothing inherently wrong with the University failing 
to punish an alleged rapist--regardless his guilt--in the absence of 
adequate certainty; there is nothing that the University can do to 
objectively ensure that the rapist does not strike again. Only the 
legal system can do that, and if it lacks the certainty to do so, it is 
not necessarily up to the University to stick it to the suspect, 
anyway, just in case. Expelling students is probably not going to 
contribute a great deal toward a rape victim's recovery; there is no 
moral imperative to risk egregious error in doing so.''
  Not only did Mr. Bounds publish these writings, but he chose not to 
share his writings with Oregon's judicial selection committee even 
though the committee had asked him to disclose any potentially 
controversial materials.
  Mr. Bounds said he didn't think he needed to disclose any information 
to the committee that preceded his time at law school.
  As Senators Wyden and Merkley pointed out in a letter to Chairman 
Grassley, Mr. Bounds did share with the Oregon committee information 
about his high school days. He just conveniently left out his 
intolerant publications from college.
  As Senators Wyden and Merkley said in their letter, ``Mr. Bounds' 
failure to disclose these writings, and the nature of these writings 
themselves, demonstrate a substantial lack of judgment that is 
unsuitable for a nominee for a lifetime appointment.''
  This is not a close call. The Senate should not be moving forward 
with Mr. Bounds' nomination on process or substance.
  Republicans are failing to be responsible stewards of nominations. 
The fact that Senate Republicans are moving forward with this 
nomination is a troubling sign for how Republicans will handle the 
Supreme Court vacancy.
  All too often, Senate Republicans are failing to serve as a 
meaningful check and balance on President Trump when it comes to 
nominations.
  Last week, 50 Senate Republicans voted to confirm an unqualified 
lawyer who had represented a suspicious Russian bank as the head of the 
Justice Department's Criminal Division.
  This week Republicans already voted to confirm Andrew Oldham, a 39-
year-old circuit court nominee who refused to say whether he thought 
Brown v. Board of Education was correctly decided and who has described 
the Supreme Court as ``the most dangerous branch.''
  Now, Senate Republicans are looking to confirm Mr. Bounds, who has 
shown terrible judgment with his published writings and with his 
failure to be forthcoming about them.
  Senators have a constitutional obligation to scrutinize these 
nominees and to vote no if the nominees lack the experience, 
temperament, or judgment to be a fair and impartial judge. The Senate 
should not be a rubberstamp, but under President Trump, all too often, 
it has been.
  I know Senate Republicans like to say it is unfair to nominees if we 
hold them accountable for their records. My Republican colleagues have 
been coming to the floor, day after day, complaining about what they 
see as unfair scrutiny of the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination.
  Do they have amnesia? I would remind them that no Supreme Court 
nominee in history has ever has been treated worse than Merrick Garland 
was treated by Senate Republicans in 2016. Senator McConnell wouldn't 
even allow Judge Garland a hearing or the courtesy of a meeting.
  The treatment of Merrick Garland was unprecedented, and it was 
disrespectful. His record and reputation were torn apart by Republicans 
who never gave him a chance to respond in an open hearing. Even Judge 
Bork got a hearing and a vote.
  I hope my Republican colleagues are not going to simply rubberstamp 
President Trump's nominees. So many of these nominees are extreme. We 
need to review their full records and consider them carefully before 
voting to confirm them for life.
  I have carefully considered Mr. Bounds' nomination, and I will vote 
no. I urge my colleagues in both parties to join me.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.