[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 161 (Friday, September 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF BRETT KAVANAUGH

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I am here for my customary ``Time to 
Wake Up'' speech, but before I get into it, given the events of the 
day, I just want to express my satisfaction with the turn of events in 
the Judiciary Committee.
  As the Acting President pro tempore may know, yesterday was a rather 
bitter day in the Judiciary Committee, with there being a lot of anger 
and tribal belligerence and a nominee who was full of partisanship and 
conspiracy theory and invective. It really was not a good day. Yet this 
is a funny place, and sometimes, right after we have been at our worst, 
something breaks that turns things in the right direction.
  Something happened in the Judiciary Committee today, much due to the 
concerns and the fortitude of Senator Flake, so I want to give him 
primary credit. I understand the Republican leadership has agreed there 
will be a weeklong delay in the Kavanaugh vote on the floor and that 
the FBI will be given a chance to do its job and take a look at the 
allegations that are out there about his conduct.
  This is not only a good thing for the Senate--because I think it 
releases a lot of pent-up pressure and anxiety and hostility--but it is 
also a really good thing for the process because the worst possible 
outcome would be that we would push this candidate through, that he 
would then get on the Supreme Court, and it would be subsequently shown 
that these allegations would have been, in fact, true and that he would 
not have been truthful with us about it and would have lied to the 
Senate. To clear as much of that cloud off of him as possible, I think, 
is good for us, good for the Court, good for the country--good for all. 
So, after a grim and battering day yesterday, I think we had a 
productive day today. I feel I earned my pay in the Senate over in the 
Judiciary Committee.

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