Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today our colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee will vote to report the President's choice for the next Secretary of State.
It is really hard to imagine someone more thoroughly qualified than Mike Pompeo. His career is a success story on every single level. He graduated first in his class from West Point, served as a U.S. Army officer, and attended Harvard Law School. Then came success in business, and then Mike's neighbors elected him to Congress in 2010.
That impressive resume explains why, a little more than a year ago, a large bipartisan majority of Senators confirmed Mike as CIA Director. His qualifications were perfectly obvious, and, by all accounts, his track record at the CIA shows that vote of confidence was exactly the right decision. He has demonstrated mastery of the daily briefings he both receives and delivers. His high-quality counsel on sensitive matters has won the confidence not only of our national clandestine service but also of the Commander in Chief, and he has returned our CIA to the aggressive gathering of foreign intelligence. Along the way, he has built a reputation for listening to all points of view, trusting career staff, treating everyone fairly, and acting decisively.
In Mike Pompeo, the United States will have a chief diplomat who will enjoy the total confidence of the President and is uniquely qualified to reinvigorate our Foreign Service and represent our interests abroad. It is hard to imagine a better nominee for this mission, at this moment, than Mike Pompeo. I look forward to upholding the tradition of this body and voting to confirm him this week.
The Senate will also vote later this afternoon to advance the nomination of Kyle Duncan of Louisiana to serve on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Duncan's legal credentials show that the President has made another outstanding choice.
With degrees from LSU and Columbia under his belt, he built an impressive record in litigation, rising to serve as appellate chief in the Louisiana office of attorney general.
His accomplishments also extend to private practice, where his work earned the respect of his colleagues and peers, including his opponents in court.
A few weeks ago, a law professor and litigator who sparred with Kyle Duncan in a high-profile case wrote:
Kyle Duncan is a magnificent nominee for the Fifth Circuit. . . . His confirmation should be supported by all who value judges committed to fairness and scrupulous application of the law.
A bipartisan group of current and former State solicitors general wrote to our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to praise his nomination. Here is what they said:
As frequent advocates in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, we are well-acquainted with the qualifications and characteristics that make good judges, including intellect, integrity, legal experience, and temperament, all of which Mr. Duncan possesses in ample quantities.
They went on to say:
We came to know him as a highly skilled lawyer with an easygoing demeanor, and as someone we could routinely turn to for advice and interest on issues of mutual interest. Even though we have worked for state Attorneys General of different political stripes, we all agree that Kyle Duncan has the personal and professional qualities that should typify the federal judiciary.
No wonder the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary awarded Mr. Duncan its highest rating of ``well qualified.''
I urge every one of our colleagues to take his credentials, experience, and bipartisan support into account. Let's vote to advance the Duncan nomination this afternoon. Tax Reform
Mr. President, on another matter, in the last several weeks, we have focused on the contrast between the economic policies that my Democratic colleagues favor and the policies this Republican President and Republican Congress have put into effect.
Under nearly a decade of Democratic leadership, the American people saw slow and insufficient growth. For most workers in most industries, significant wage growth was nearly nonexistent; new opportunities were few and far between; and the new prosperity that was created was spread unevenly across the country.
Metropolitan areas with more than 1 million residents did OK under Democratic policies. Big cities captured nearly three-quarters of the limited job growth and more than 90 percent of population growth between 2010 and 2016. The rest of America fell further and further behind. Year after year, rural America, suburban America, smalltown America, and small cities across the country saw almost no progress. That is not a record to be proud of, and it is not one that Republicans would stand for. That is why we are implementing an inclusive opportunity agenda to get wages, opportunities, and prosperity growing again for all Americans.
We have cut job-killing redtape and passed historic tax relief for middle-class families, workers, and job creators. It is delivering results for Americans whom the Obama economy left behind. I hear frequently from workers and small business owners in my State about how lifting these burdens is changing their lives.
I recently heard from Senator Grassley about the good things tax reform is doing in the State of Iowa. In Cushing, IA--population 220-- the Anfinson Farm Store is using the new Tax Code to raise worker wages and give employees bonuses. Across the State, the 162 full-time manufacturing workers at Dyersville Die Cast are receiving their own tax reform bonuses. Iowa families will see lower heating and cooling bills, since tax reform is letting the State's utility companies deliver $147 million in consumer savings. Iowans should be proud that both of their U.S. Senators voted for the historic reform that made all of this possible.
South of the border, in Missouri, it is a different story. There, too, tax reform is a big win for working families and small businesses. From big employers like Walmart to local businesses like Mid-Am Metal Forming, Missouri workers are reaping the benefits, but, unfortunately, only one of Missouri's Senators voted for it. The State's senior Senator voted on strict party lines to block these historic tax cuts from reaching workers and families.
Maybe my Democratic colleagues still prefer the leftwing policy playbook that funnels jobs and prosperity into the biggest and richest cities but does very little for States like Missouri and Iowa. I am proud of Republicans who are taking things in a different direction, and all kinds of Americans are doing better because of it.
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