Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday, the Senate confirmed two more superbly qualified circuit court nominees. Joel Carson and John Nalbandian are the 20th and the 21st circuit judges we have confirmed this Congress.

This morning our colleagues on the Intelligence Committee finished their consideration of Gina Haspel to be CIA Director and reported her nomination favorably with bipartisan support. Ms. Haspel's testimony and record have showcased the poise, talent, and experience that make her an excellent selection.

Senators heard about her 30-plus years of CIA experience, spanning sensitive operations from the Cold War to the Global War on Terror. That background makes Ms. Haspel an ideal pick at this particular moment, when Secretary Mattis has explained that counterterrorism and a renewed great-power competition are two of the key challenges facing our Nation.

So it is no wonder that James Clapper, President Obama's Director of National Intelligence, said: ``I think the world of Gina; she is capable, smart, very experienced, well-respected by the Agency rank and file, and a great person.''

Just yesterday, our current DNI, Dan Coats, wrote in USA Today that ``she is a person of high integrity with valuable frontline and executive experience . . . who is willing to speak truth to power when required on behalf of our nation.''

Gina Haspel is the right woman at the right time. Her nomination has support from national security leaders and Senators in both parties. There is no reason why her confirmation should be delayed, and I look forward to advancing it expeditiously following the committee's action. Net Neutrality

Mr. President, on another matter, over the last 20 years, the internet has yielded progress that was the stuff of science fiction just a generation ago. In so many ways it has spawned a new economy and fostered new connections across the country and the world.

In large part these successes owe to a bipartisan consensus that Washington, DC, should be largely hands-off, but, of course, like every exciting new frontier of the economy, the internet attracted attention from the crowd that prefers to regulate first and ask questions later.

In 2015 President Obama's FCC set out to fix what wasn't broken. It imposed regulations designed for Depression-era telephones on new technologies that fit in our pockets. So much for the light-touch approach that helped the early internet grow.

Last year, under the leadership of Chairman Ajit Pai, the FCC sought to rectify this mistake and restore the rules that helped the internet flourish while still protecting consumers from abuses. The resolution Democrats are putting forward today would undo that progress. It would reimpose heavy-handed Depression-era rules on the most vibrant, fast- growing sectors of our economy. It is wrong on the merits. It is also the wrong way to go about this process.

The CRA is useful when it lets elected representatives rein in regulatory overreach by unelected bureaucrats, but this resolution doesn't seek to rein in overregulation. It seeks to reimpose it. What is worse, by using the CRA mechanism, the Democrats seek to make the 2015 rules permanent going forward. The CRA would handicap this FCC or future FCC's ability to revise the rules even if provisions were widely seen as necessary.

There is a better way to proceed. It is called bipartisan legislation. Senator Thune has reached out to the Democrats on the committee to draft internet ``rules of the road'' for the 21st century--a set of rules that would safeguard consumers but still prevent regulators from stifling innovation at every turn. Already, multiple Democratic colleagues have drawn the same conclusions with regards to preemptive overcorrection by the FCC. The senior Senator from Florida and the junior Senator from Hawaii, for example, have both expressed a desire to collaborate on bipartisan legislation.

But Democrats have already made clear that the resolution today is about the elections in November. They know they will not ultimately be successful, but they want to campaign on their desire to add new regulations to the internet. This resolution takes us in the wrong direction, and we should reject it. Tax Reform

Mr. President, on one final matter, later today I will be meeting with members of an industry with deep roots in my home State of Kentucky--our bourbon and spirits distillers.

Judging by recent headlines, we will have plenty of good news to discuss. After 8 years of Democrats' policies enriching big cities but leaving small businesses behind, Republican policies are helping workers and job creators to thrive all across our country. From Louisville to Kansas City to Portland, our growing craft distilling industry is a perfect example. They are enjoying a pro-growth provision in the historic tax reform Republicans passed last year, which lowered excise taxes on beer, wine, and spirits and modernized the regulatory policy affecting each.

Interestingly enough, the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act even began as a bipartisan effort with 56 cosponsors here in the Senate, led by Senators Blunt, Wyden, and Portman.

Of course, not a single Democrat showed up when it was time to vote on tax reform. But Republicans accomplished it anyway, and now the New York Times can publish stories about how the measure is making a big difference for small craft distillers.

As one such report puts it, distilling is a burgeoning source of jobs, tax revenue, and tourism dollars in every State. For example, the Kentucky Distillers' Association reported that just last year the bourbon industry accounted for 17,500 jobs and over 1 million visitors to my home State. That is a big shift from the so-called Obama recovery, when almost all the limited jobs and investment poured into the biggest cities. But it is a new day.

Now, FEW Spirits, in Illinois, has hired more workers and is replacing its overseas glassmaker with an American one. J. Rieger & Co., in Missouri, has found extra room in the budget to expand its sales team and begin selling its products further across the country.

In the Democratic leader's own backyard of Brooklyn, the New York Distilling Company recently cut the wholesale case price on its signature gin by more than 50 percent. According to one of its cofounders, Allen Katz, ``the reaction from our industry peers has been jaw-dropping.'' In Kentucky, which is home to more than 50 distilleries, there are plenty of examples to choose from. Thanks to the lowered excise tax, Casey Jones Distillery, a small operation in Hopkinsville, is growing its team, increasing production and planning to enhance its event space. Copper & Kings, in Louisville, has been able to hire more workers and is preparing to expand its warehouse and add a new bar for guests. The Copper & Kings team recently shared with me that tax reform is ``one of the most important initiatives [the Senate] could pursue to help create jobs for small businesses in Kentucky.''

My Democratic colleagues failed to block tax reform last year, and now they want to just keep arguing about it. They even propose to repeal it and roll back Americans' tax cuts, but entrepreneurs across the country are loving our new 21st century Tax Code. They are using it to expand operations and to create jobs.

It is hard to argue with results--not that it has stopped our Democratic friends from trying, and I am sure they will continue to try. But Republicans will stay focused on taking steps like these and raising a glass to America's small businesses.

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