[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 159 (Wednesday, September 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6315-S6316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, as we approach tomorrow's hearing with 
Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, I want to be very clear about how the 
Republican leadership has handled these incredibly serious and credible 
allegations of sexual assault. The Republican leadership has handled 
them poorly, unfairly, and disrespectfully.
  Leader McConnell has called this entire issue a ``smear campaign'' 
cooked up by Democrats. That is a blatant falsehood that demeans the 
women who have courageously come forward. They came forward, not 
Democrats. They did it on their own, not Democrats. And when Leader 
McConnell says that it is a smear campaign, he is demeaning these 
women. As I have said before--but we have yet to hear--Leader McConnell 
owes Dr. Ford an apology for what he has said.
  After Republicans on the Judiciary Committee learned of a second 
potential allegation against Judge

[[Page S6316]]

Kavanaugh, they renewed their request, of course, to accelerate--to 
speed up--the confirmation process.
  Chairman Grassley has prohibited witnesses in tomorrow's hearing, 
other than Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, including the one and only 
alleged eyewitness to the events in question. Chairman Grassley and 
several of his colleagues on the other side have already proposed a 
final committee vote on Friday. They proposed the vote before the 
hearing occurs. Isn't that prejudgment? And they are acting, when they 
propose the vote before the hearing, as if the conclusion was 
foreordained and the hearing is just a nuisance to ``plow through.''
  Most galling of all: Republican leadership and the White House have 
blocked the FBI from reopening an independent background check 
investigation into Judge Kavanaugh, a standard procedure for Federal 
nominees when new allegations arise. This isn't a new thing that 
Democrats are pulling out of a hat. This is something we do all the 
time--except in this case, no.
  So this isn't a Democratic smear job, as the Leader so callously and 
disrespectfully suggested; this is a Republican rush job and, I might 
add, a rush job to avoid getting to the truth.
  Here is the contradiction in Leader McConnell's logic: Leader 
McConnell keeps saying that the allegations by Dr. Ford and other women 
are ``uncorroborated''--his word--while, at the same time, he is 
blockading the obvious avenues to corroborate them, and that would be 
an impartial FBI investigation calling on witnesses to testify. Senator 
McConnell's assertion is wrong on its face because sworn statements 
corroborating Dr. Ford's account were submitted to the Judiciary 
Committee yesterday. If he doesn't believe those statements, it is 
simple: Have the FBI go interview those who submitted the statements, 
and then they would have to tell the truth under the penalty of 
perjury.
  So right here and now, I challenge any Member of the Republican 
Senate to come to the floor and give one good reason why we shouldn't 
allow the FBI to follow up on its background investigation--one good 
reason. I haven't heard one. With all the rhetoric, all the screaming, 
all the name-calling, all the disrespecting of women who have come 
forward--something this Nation knows all too well these days--we 
haven't heard one actual reason why there shouldn't be an FBI 
investigation.
  Will it slow it down? It will take only a few days.
  I would remind Leader McConnell that he slowed down a nomination to 
the Supreme Court for a year, and now a few days is too much? Give me a 
break.
  Dr. Ford has asked for an FBI investigation. That shows the faith she 
has in her account. Editorial boards across the country have echoed her 
call for an FBI investigation. Anita Hill, treated so unfairly in her 
day, said that an FBI investigation is essential. And I have to give 
some credit: A handful of fair-minded Republican Senators have said 
that an FBI investigation is warranted because they know it would get 
to the facts. They know it would keep politics out of it. They know it 
wouldn't cause much of a delay.
  During Justice Thomas's confirmation process, an update to the FBI 
background check took 3 days--3 days. Leader McConnell held a Supreme 
Court seat open for over 400 days. So why was that OK, and this is not 
OK?
  Again, I say to my dear friend, Leader McConnell: Give me one good 
reason--give the American people one good reason--why we shouldn't ask 
the FBI to investigate. If it is a smear job, as he claims, the FBI 
will find that out. But they also might find out that it is no smear 
job; it is the God's honest truth.
  Now, another tactic: The Republican leader has just trotted out old 
quotes by Senator Biden pointing out that FBI investigations don't 
provide conclusions.
  I would say to the leader: That is just the point. The purpose of the 
FBI investigation would not be to prove definitively who is right one 
way or the other. That is a judgment Senators are to make. The purpose 
of the FBI investigation is to provide the Senate with just the facts--
that is what we want, just the facts--to make a more informed decision 
and one the American people could have some confidence in. Their 
confidence in Judge Kavanaugh and in the process is slipping daily, and 
with good reason. Isn't an impartial, fair, timely, and nondilatory FBI 
background check investigation fair to both Dr. Ford and Judge 
Kavanaugh, taking this out of the arena of politics and making it just 
about the facts? You bet it is.
  Of course it is the right thing to do. But the Republican leaders and 
the White House have blocked it and scheduled a hearing for tomorrow 
anyway because, as Leader McConnell promised last week, he is going to 
``plow right through'' these allegations. And the motivation is clear: 
They want to put Judge Kavanaugh on the bench as quickly as possible 
because they know their nominee has a gigantic credibility problem, and 
every day that goes by, more and more Americans realize it.
  Judge Kavanaugh has misled the Judiciary Committee on numerous 
occasions about his involvement in the ugliest Bush-era controversies, 
including on torture, on the confirmation of controversial judges 
William Pryor and Charles Pickering, on the sordid affair when Manny 
Miranda, a Republican operative, stole Democratic emails. Just today, 
Ranking Member Feinstein said that Judge Kavanaugh misled the Judiciary 
Committee about an incident with a grand jury during his time working 
for Ken Starr.
  Telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth does 
not seem to be Judge Kavanaugh's way, but that is what we need on the 
Supreme Court.
  Earlier this week, the Nation watched Judge Kavanaugh swear on 
national television that he never had so much to drink that he forgot 
events. That characterization doesn't track with several descriptions 
given by many of his high school and college classmates and when he 
says ``I can't recall this, that, and the other thing'' about his 
youth.
  So the question of credibility looms. Is Judge Kavanaugh willing to 
say anything to get confirmed? And are Republican leaders willing to do 
anything to get him confirmed? Unfortunately, signs are pointing to 
yes.
  Most importantly, when the credibility of the nominee is so 
questionable, is that the kind of person we want on the Supreme Court? 
I don't care if it is a liberal, a conservative, or a moderate. When 
the question of credibility is so much in doubt, as it is now with 
Judge Kavanaugh, that person should not be sitting on the highest Court 
in the land, the arbiter of our laws and often the determiner of right 
and wrong. It would be a new lower standard for the Court and for 
America.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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