[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 168 (Wednesday, October 10, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6750-S6751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh

  Mr. President, I want to transition really quickly and just take a 
minute because last week, as we all know, was a very difficult time in 
the Senate as we processed the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to serve 
on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  That vote has concluded. Judge Kavanaugh is now Justice Kavanaugh, 
and I truly wish him all the best as he begins his new term on the 
highest Court in the land. But there is a residue--I don't know if it 
is a residue. I don't know how we make sure we are able to move forward 
after difficult votes that divide us all and work to come back 
together.
  I am going to speak very directly about my friend who sits right here 
next to me on the Senate floor. She and I went through, probably, a 
similar deliberative process. It was probably the same as everybody 
else here on the floor, but we perhaps shared more discussion about it 
than I did with other colleagues. At the end of the day, we came down 
on different sides, but both of us--both of us--agonized over the 
decision and the process.
  She is now enduring an active campaign against her. It is not just an 
active campaign against her, but there are protests at her home every 
weekend, and she cannot travel without a police escort.
  I made comments as I prepared for the final vote last week. I said: 
We are better than this. We have to set the example here.
  I am really touched that after I had taken a hard vote within my 
caucus,

[[Page S6751]]

there are some who are notably angry at me. But we are working together 
on the next issue of the day, and we are moving forward. We need to set 
that example in this body because if we don't set it here, I don't know 
how we can expect anyone on the outside to follow us.
  There is a need for civility. It is a hard time for us, but I would 
urge us all to choose our words carefully. Don't be afraid to speak 
with kindness toward one another. Don't be afraid to call out the good 
in somebody else, even though you have voted against them. We are 
better than what we are seeing right now.
  I am smiling only because I feel I should recommend that my 
colleagues watch a movie, a documentary. I don't do that often, but 
after the vote on Saturday, I just, by chance, picked up a DVD that had 
been sent to me. It is a documentary about the life and career of Fred 
Rogers--Mister Rogers--``Won't You Be My Neighbor?'' I figured I needed 
something kind of calming for the night.
  It is OK to be good to one another. It is OK to accept people for who 
they are. It is OK to just find the good.
  With that, Mr. President, I thank you for allowing me to speak a 
little bit from the heart. I would ask us to be civil with one another 
now, not civil when the next election comes.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Toomey). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will oppose the pending nomination of 
Jeffrey Clark to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the 
Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. This 
is the division that leads the Department of Justice's enforcement of 
environmental laws and regulations. Mr. Clark is not the right person 
for that job.
  In 2014, he said the science of climate change is ``contestable.'' He 
represented British Petroleum in litigation over the Deepwater Horizon 
explosion and oil spill. He has represented the Chamber of Commerce and 
other industry groups in challenging EPA greenhouse gas regulations.
  He is a favorite of the Federalist Society, having chaired that 
group's environmental law and practice group. But his nomination is 
strongly opposed by groups that care about protecting the environment.
  The Sierra Club called him an ``outspoken opponent of environmental 
and public health protection.'' The Natural Resources Defense Council 
described him as an ``enemy of the environment.'' He is exactly the 
wrong person to be in this job of enforcing regulations to protect our 
environment.
  Just during these last few days, the United Nations put out an alert 
to all of the members around the world. We are going to pay dearly for 
this current administration's decision to remove ourselves from the 
Paris Agreement, where literally every country on Earth agreed to try 
to do something to clean up the mess of our environment and leave our 
children a better place to live. We decided, under President Trump, to 
be the only Nation to step away from it. Why? What in the world were we 
thinking? Can you believe that things that are happening that are 
easily documented can be ignored? Do you see the flooding that is going 
on now in Florida on a regular basis? That is just 1 of 1,000 different 
examples.
  If we don't accept responsibility in our generation to make this a 
better world, shame on us. We want to leave our kids a better world, 
but for goodness' sake, do we have the political courage to do it? Will 
we be able to say to the President: You are just wrong.
  We have to work together with nations around the world. The United 
States should be a leader, not an apologist. The President said he 
wants to make America first. How about America first when it comes to 
cleaning up the environment? There is nothing wrong with that 
leadership. It is something we should be proud of.
  This man, Jeffrey Clark, who is aspiring to be the Assistant Attorney 
General, just doesn't buy into what I just said, and I can't support 
him as a result.