Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday I had an opportunity to meet with Judge Brett Kavanaugh as we begin preparations for his confirmation process to the Supreme Court. It is really impossible not to come away impressed. Judge Kavanaugh is the real deal. He has the all-star legal resume and the top-light academic credentials. His extensive judicial record is defined by fairness, thoughtfulness, thoroughness, and analytical precision. I was already confident the President had made an outstanding choice. Now I am even more confident. My colleagues here and Americans around the country won't have to take my word for it; just look to one of Judge Kavanaugh's former professors at Yale Law School. Here is what Professor Akhil Amar wrote in the New York Times: ``It is hard to name anyone with judicial credentials as strong as those of Judge Kavanaugh.''

Current faculty at Yale Law described him as a ``true intellectual,'' ``a leading thinker,'' and ``a wonderful mentor and teacher to our students.''

Even at Harvard, his alma mater's archrival, a scholar agrees that Judge Kavanaugh is ``a generous, honorable, kind person.''

Ask the legal professionals who have clerked for him on the DC Circuit. They are in a better position than most to speak to his writing as a jurist. In a letter to our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, 34 of them share that Judge Kavanaugh ``drafts opinions painstakingly, writing and rewriting until he is satisfied each opinion is clear and well-reasoned, and can be understood not only by lawyers but by the parties and the public.''

As the confirmation process gets underway, I have a distinct feeling this isn't the only testimony of this sort that we will be hearing. Judge Kavanaugh seems to impress everyone with whom he crosses paths-- at least those who haven't blindly announced in a fit of partisanship their opposition to this nomination before he was even named.

I am glad that President Trump has made such a strong selection, and I look forward to our colleagues in the Judiciary Committee taking up this nomination.

Mr. President, speaking of the personnel business, we are continuing this week to process President Trump's qualified nominees for other important positions in the judicial and executive branches. Yesterday, we confirmed the 22nd circuit court judge since January of 2017.

Now we are considering Brian Benczkowski, the President's choice to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice. His resume includes distinguished service in five different leadership positions at the Department of Justice under three Attorneys General. His nomination has won praise from a number of former Justice Department officials who served under Presidents of both parties. Their letter describes this nominee as ``a tireless worker . . . a fine leader and colleague . . . honest and a straight shooter.'' I look forward to voting to confirm him later today and to continuing to confirm more of the President's team. job growth

Mr. President, on one final matter, last week, the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report. As has become a pattern, it contained good news about the state of job opportunities across our country. In June alone, our economy created 213,000 new jobs, with contributions from nearly every sector. That continues a prolonged streak of strong jobs performance month after month, quarter after quarter.

The pro-growth, pro-jobs policies of this united Republican government--from historic tax relief to sweeping regulatory reform--are helping unleash this wave of new opportunity and new prosperity for America's workers and middle-class families.

More than 600,000 Americans entered the workforce last month alone-- another sign that the Obama-era stagnation continues to lose its grip on our communities. The rate of hiring reached its highest level in more than a decade. Here is another promising sign: the rate at which Americans are quitting their jobs voluntarily. Economists tell us this is an important sign of a healthy job market because it indicates workers are moving upward, seeking better pay or superior benefits at a different employer. That number just hit its highest level in more than 17 years.

More jobs; more opportunities; more Americans coming off of the sidelines and getting back into the workforce; more Americans moving up the ladder to bigger and better things and opening up their current positions for other jobseekers at the same time--helping to produce conditions like these is what Republicans had in mind when we chipped away at the regulatory rust that kept American job creators from doing what they do best. That is what we had in mind when we used the Congressional Review Act a record 16 times to relieve bureaucratic bloat that had forced job creators and entrepreneurs to cut back or close up shop. That is what we had in mind when we overhauled our Tax Code so it better rewards workers and more strongly encourages job creators to deepen their roots in American soil. Republicans are proud of this thriving job market, and we are proud that our policies are playing a part in making it happen.

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