[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 169 (Thursday, October 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6784-S6786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Republican Agenda

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, after the vote was called on the Kavanaugh 
nomination--I should say immediately before it--the minority leader, 
the Senator from New York, told America that the most important thing 
they could do in response to that vote is go to the polls in the 
midterm elections. It is true that on November 6, Americans will head 
to the polls and select their Members of Congress, including the 
Senate, and as Ronald Reagan's famous speech said, it will be ``a time 
for choosing.''
  Many people are wondering how they should choose, how they should 
exercise that most fundamental privilege of American citizenship, and 
that is the right to vote. Should they choose to vote for mob rule or 
do they choose to vote for the rule of law? Do they choose to endorse 
threats, intimidation, and incitement or do they choose to treat 
everybody--no matter how much you disagree with them--with dignity and 
respect? I believe those are our choices.
  I was very disappointed to hear the former Secretary of State Mrs. 
Clinton say that you cannot be civil with a political party that wants 
to destroy what you stand for and what you care about. She said 
civility is only possible if Democrats were to win back the House or 
the Senate. In other words, her commitment to civility in our political 
discourse is contingent upon political outcomes. Did you notice the 
verb she used? She used the word ``destroy,'' which I think is telling.
  It is not that people may disagree with her or her party, it is that 
people who disagree with her want to destroy what you stand for and 
what you care about. In other words, this mindset, I think, is very 
disturbing and should be of concern to all of us who want to restore 
some civility, and decorum, and bipartisan cooperation.
  We are going to have our differences, there is no doubt about it. I 
welcome the opportunity to debate those differences. That is what the 
Senate is all about, but there is a line we saw crossed last week 
during the confirmation hearing. We learned it is our Democratic 
colleagues, unfortunately, who have associated themselves with special 
interest groups that are willing to go to just about any length to 
achieve their desired ends. In other words, the ends justify the means. 
That includes climbing statues, disobeying Capitol Police, getting 
arrested, chasing Senators and their spouses from restaurants, 
screaming at Members in elevators, sending coat hangers to Senators at 
their offices, and offering what amounts to a bribe. That doesn't sound 
very civil to me.

[[Page S6785]]

  Then you have former Attorney General Eric Holder, who was captured 
on video saying things that I, frankly, am shocked about. You would 
think the former head law enforcement officer for the U.S. Government, 
the Attorney General, would understand the need to be careful with your 
words and not stoke the ambers of conflict and civil unrest, but 
apparently disregarding that, he intentionally poured gasoline on the 
fire. He said last week, it is time to ditch the old slogan ``when they 
go low, we go high.''
  He attributed that to Michelle Obama, and good for her.
  He said instead: ``When they go low, we kick them.''
  That is what the new Democratic Party is all about. The Washington 
Post has said Holder is proposing ``the party pursue a meaner, more 
combative approach,'' and noted he was alluding to metaphorical 
violence. This is from the former Attorney General of the United 
States.
  I believe former First Lady Michelle Obama rightfully condemned this 
ugly and shameful statement.
  Meanwhile, one Democratic Member of the Senate has recommended 
activists get up in the face of your Congresspeople. Another one has 
justified mob rule as entirely appropriate to our current political 
situation.
  We had members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during the 
Kavanaugh hearings, say: I am violating the rules intentionally. I am 
releasing committee-confidential information in violation of the rules, 
and, apparently, they were proud of it.
  I hope the voters are listening. I think they are. They are coming 
from some of the most powerful voices of the Democratic Party, voices 
that could represent you in the next Congress. That is the choice--
between incitement, intimidation, mob rule, or civility and treating 
people you disagree with, with the respect all of us are entitled to in 
a democracy.
  I don't think the voters will reward a party that is spitting out 
this sort of venom about what our politics should be about: sowing 
division, alluding to violence, rejecting civility. Is that what 
supposedly passes for leadership? Should the voters reward that in this 
midterm election? I think our forefathers would be shocked, but this 
election is about more than just the rhetoric.
  I think the voters also have a choice when it comes to looking at who 
is interested in solving the problems that confront our country, who is 
willing to work on a bipartisan basis together with the administration 
to make the country a better place, more prosperous place, a safer 
place. All they need to do is look back at the last 22 months.
  Yesterday, for example, we passed a major water infrastructure bill 
that will keep our communities safe by maintaining dams and levees and 
addressing drinking water and wastewater systems across the country. It 
will also expedite, in my part of the world, an important coastal study 
and authorize flood mitigation projects back home.
  Then the President signed, just 2 days before that--I am sure most of 
this was lost in the furor over the Kavanaugh nomination--but just 2 
days before that, the President signed another bipartisan bill I 
cosponsored called the Justice Served Act that will provide funds to 
prosecute cold cases solved by DNA evidence obtained from rape kits.
  Then, of course, there was the Supreme Court confirmation last 
Saturday.
  In the last 6 days, we have accomplished three major things: water 
infrastructure, funding cold case prosecutions, and filling Justice 
Kennedy's seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.
  I would say that is a pretty good week, but our record of success is 
much lengthier than that. Judge Kavanaugh was far from the only Federal 
judge we have confirmed. Last year, we confirmed another superb 
Justice, Neil Gorsuch. On top of that, we have confirmed 69 judges 
under President Trump. That includes three Texas judges on the Fifth 
Circuit Court of Appeals and four that preside over Texas district 
courts.
  Those numbers begin to show you that since President Trump took 
office in January of last year, we haven't taken our foot off the gas 
when it comes to doing the people's work. Under this Congress, we have 
confirmed the most appellate judges ever during a President's first 2 
years. Of course, these nominees, once confirmed, have a lifetime 
tenure, so they will be there long beyond this President's term or 
maybe our term in the Congress.
  Our work extends far beyond filling the courthouses of this country. 
What we have done, working together with the entrepreneurs and the 
investors and the small businesses of America, is we helped reenergize 
the state of the American economy.
  This started with tax reform, which has been the biggest game 
changer. This is the first major overhaul of the Tax Code in 31 years. 
It lowered rates, doubled the child tax credit to help working 
families, and made American businesses more internationally 
competitive. I am sorry we had to do that all by ourselves without a 
single Democratic vote, but we thought it was so important to do that 
we stepped up, and we did it. I think the benefits are pretty manifest.
  Ms. Pelosi likes to say the savings individual taxpayers got were 
merely ``crumbs,'' but I would like to tell her about some of my 
constituents and what they told me.
  One of them, Kim Ewing from Mesquite, wrote me and talked about how 
tax reform was hugely helpful because she hadn't had a raise in 7 
years. Now she enjoys a boost in her paycheck each month. She called 
tax reform a no-brainer or what she referred to as merely ``common 
sense.''

  Then there is Claudia Smith, owner of the Aggieland Carpet One in 
College Station, who told me earlier this year that she has been able 
to reinvest the savings she received under the new tax law to buy new 
equipment for her small business, as well as provide healthcare 
coverage for her employees. She says she will also have enough left 
over to hire more people.
  Claudia's story is the same one that is being told all across the 
country. More than 700 businesses have used the tax savings to benefit 
their employees and customers. They have announced pay raises, 401(k) 
match increases, cuts to utility rates, bonuses, and other benefits to 
American workers.
  These developments are just part of the reason this economy is 
growing again and why people have renewed confidence and optimism in 
their future.
  As the majority leader reported yesterday, unemployment in this 
country has now fallen to 3.7 percent, which is the lowest rate since 
1969. People are going back to work; they are earning more; they are 
keeping more of what they earn; and they are investing. This is what it 
looks like when that sleeping giant of the American economy wakes up 
and is unleashed from the constraints of high taxation and 
overregulation.
  It is not just the economy that deserves mention. One of our 
accomplishments has been repealing burdensome regulations--I have 
mentioned that overregulation--and we have done that through the 
Congressional Review Act.
  Previously, it had only been used 1 time, but we have used this 
device 16 times to eliminate Agency rules which really had been the 
ropes that tied down that sleeping giant of the American economy. It 
allowed it to come roaring back.
  We have repealed the Independent Payment Advisory Board under 
ObamaCare, which will allow seniors and their families to take greater 
control of their healthcare decisions without being subject to the 
whims of unelected bureaucrats. We have also eliminated the root of 
ObamaCare--the individual mandate. This was literally a coercion by the 
Federal Government, forcing people to buy something that, in many 
cases, they couldn't afford, and they didn't want.
  We literally made ObamaCare voluntary now so people have choices, but 
this was essentially a tax on some of the most disadvantaged people in 
the country who were coerced into buying healthcare they didn't want or 
couldn't afford, and if they were unable to even do that, they were 
forced to pay a tax or a penalty.
  Recently, we have been accomplishing a lot more for our men and women 
in uniform, our intelligence officers, and our veterans. We have helped 
restore America's defense with

[[Page S6786]]

the greatest investment in the military in decades, including the 
largest troop pay raise in nearly 10 years.
  We have reauthorized important intelligence-gathering tools, like 
section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--a vital tool 
in tracking foreign terrorists abroad who try to hurt us at home.
  For our veterans, we passed the VA MISSION Act, which will make 
significant reforms to the Department of Veterans Affairs by 
strengthening healthcare and community care options that are available 
to those who have served our Nation in uniform.
  Last, but not least, is our series of accomplishments. We have taken 
other important steps, like passing the Federal Aviation Administration 
Reauthorization Act just last week. It is legislation that modernizes 
our airports, improves service for travelers, enhances safety, and 
boosts industry innovation.
  Then, almost without anybody paying any attention at all, we passed a 
huge bipartisan bill to address the opioid crisis. Senator Alexander, 
the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, 
ushered this bill through the House and the Senate, along with Senator 
Murphy and others. It has contributions from 70 Members of the Senate 
and 5 standing committees. That takes a lot of hard bipartisan effort, 
but it is important because it combats the nationwide epidemic that has 
led to the death of 49,000 Americans in just 2017 alone.
  We have done important work in terms of improving public safety by 
enacting a bill I sponsored and that was supported by our colleagues 
here called Fix NICS; that is, the National Instant Criminal Background 
Check System. We also passed a bill sponsored by Senator Hatch called 
the STOP School Violence Act.
  The Fix NICS bill helped fix our broken background check system and 
ensures that criminals aren't able to purchase or possess firearms 
after they are convicted.
  In the wake of the Texas shootings at Santa Fe and Sutherland 
Springs, we know there were a lot of people crying out for Congress to 
do something, and this was the one thing we could all agree to, on a 
bipartisan basis, across the ideological spectrum. These two bills--
mine and Senator Hatch's--are a part of the way we have answered that 
call.
  We have tried to protect our young people--especially women--in 
another important way as well. We enacted what is known as SESTA, the 
Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. This legislation by the junior 
Senator from Ohio helps to stop online trafficking and adds to a bill I 
sponsored called the Abolish Human Trafficking Act. It strengthens 
programs and supports survivors of human trafficking and provides 
resources to law enforcement officials on the frontlines of the fight 
against modern-day slavery.
  I understand why most Americans have not heard of all or many of 
these accomplishments, but I think it is important to note what we have 
been able to do while we have fought mightily over some things, like 
judicial nominations.
  We have also worked in a bipartisan way to get the people's work 
done. I believe we have done so mainly by treating each other 
respectfully and by demonstrating civility, not by yelling at each 
other, by making threats, or inciting people to violence. That is not 
the American way.
  I am hopeful that after the scenes we saw here last week during the 
confirmation proceedings for the Supreme Court, that the American 
people will reject that sort of conduct and demand that their elected 
officials act in a way they can be proud of.
  Yes, we put money back into America's pockets. We have rolled back 
regulations to make their lives a little bit easier. We have 
strengthened our military, given our veterans access to better 
healthcare, and protected our communities from harm.
  As the minority leader, the Senator from New York, said right before 
the confirmation vote on Judge Kavanaugh, the people need to vote. They 
will, I hope, exercise that franchise--that right of every American 
citizen to determine the direction of our country and who will 
represent them in the Halls of Congress.
  It is my sincere hope that they will remember some of these 
accomplishments we have made together during this administration and 
know we can continue to do more for them in the future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.