Senator Ernst: (4:32 p.m.)

• Spoke on the appropriations process.
  • "How did we get to this point? You might be asking yourself that. After all, we've worked across the aisle in an open and collaborative way and found a path forward to fund our national defense and the vital Departments of Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education. We recently passed a similar bill related to Energy and Water, the Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs. But as we've seen, a continuing resolution was attached to this legislation for the rest of the government, including our vital Department of Homeland Security."

 

Senator Donnelly: (4:43 p.m.)

• Spoke on suicide prevention.
  • "The Senate will be introducing a resolution very soon recognizing suicide as a serious public health problem and expressing support for designation of September as National Suicide Prevention Month. Every year we lose nearly 45,000 Americans to suicide. It's the tenth leading cause of death in this country and second leading cause for those age 15 to 34. Think about that for a moment. 45,000 lives every year, 123 lives every day, one life every 12 minutes. The American foundation for suicide prevention champions the message be the voice, stop suicide. Whether we're senators or family or friends or coworkers or even strangers, we can all play a role in helping to prevent suicide."

 

Senator Cornyn: (5:03 p.m.)

• Spoke on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
  • "And as I said, she didn't do anything with the allegation for almost two months. What is clear is that this allegation has been handled, or I should say egregiously mishandled up until now, but that's no excuse for us to continue to do the same. We need to return this process to its ordinary rules and procedures. We will take these accusations with the seriousness that they deserve, and that's in a way that's fair both to the alleged victim and the judge himself. So far fairness, because of our friends on the other side's fondness for gotcha moments and Kabuki Theater throughout the confirmation process that fairness has mostly been lost."
• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "Thanks to chairman Alexander, chairman of the help committee, and as a result of his hard work and the contributions of 70 senators and five standing committees, we were able to come up with a package that had overwhelming support. I believe it was 99-1 if I'm not mistaken. The house has already passed its version of this legislation, so it was important that we do the same and get the bill to the president soon. And I'm happy to report that now we've done that."