Senator Thune: (3:00 p.m.)

• Spoke on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
  • "When it comes to Brett Kavanaugh, the answer to both questions is yes. I don't need to tell anyone how qualified Judge Kavanaugh is. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, and a lecturer at Harvard Law School. He has extensive legal experience in government and private practice, and he has spent the past 12 years serving on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, sometimes referred to as the second-highest court in the land. His opinions have been endorsed by the Supreme Court more than a dozen times and are regularly cited by courts around the country. In short, he is eminently qualified to be a justice on the Supreme Court."
• Spoke Republican economic policy.
  • "The economy grew at an impressive 4.1% in the second quarter of this year, bringing economic growth for the year so far up over 3%. Unemployment dropped to 3.9% in July, which is close it an 18-year low. Worker pay and benefits are increasing at the fastest pace in a decade. Consumer confidence is at a nearly 18-year high. Disposable income - that income after taxes - is up 3.35% this year. -- 3.5% this year. And small business optimism is at record high. Mr. President, in short, Republican economic policies are working. And I don't need to tell anyone that economic growth lagged during the Obama administration."

 

Senator Portman: (3:10 p.m.)

• Spoke on the opioid epidemic.
  • "The new report shows that last year - they just got the final numbers for it - the number of people who overdosed and died from these opioid crises that we have was greater than the year before. And not just at record levels but at levels that really creates this epidemic level. 72,000 Americans died of overdoses last year. This is the map that shows where it is. And it's all over our country. Now there were a couple of states that made some progress. Those are the states in blue -- or purple here. But in all the other states you actually see an increase, overall a 9% increase in overdose deaths in our country from 2016 to 2017."

 

Senator Moran: (3:32 p.m.)

• Spoke on in tribute to Ed Rolf.
  • "Mr. Rolf was born on December 13, 1924, in Junction City, Kansas. He attended school there and graduated from Junction City High School and attended the University of Kansas and received degrees from Columbia University and the University of Madison, Wisconsin. He was a lifelong student and always busy. He was an avid reader and researcher. He studied economics and stuck to his roots as a farmer and worked on the family farm until his passing this week. The community and state know him as a strong supporter of schools and education, and he supported scholarships and mentored many young men and women in the Junction City area."