Senator Cornyn: (11:50 a.m.)

• Spoke on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
  • "Unfortunately, none of that happened here because we now know that the ranking member, our friend Senator Feinstein, sat on this letter for some six weeks, and then after the hearing, after all of the questions for the record, after being examine the nominee for two days over a long period of time, having gone through an F.B.I. background investigation as well as a bipartisan background investigation of the Judiciary Committee staff, this letter comes out in a way that, frankly, puts Dr. Ford in an uncomfortable position but also has consequences in terms of the nominee and many of us saw last night Judge Kavanaugh talk about the impact of this accusation that he denies ever occurring, it's impact on his children, on his marriage, and on his reputation."

Senator Thune: (12:20 p.m.)

• Spoke on Republican economic policy.
  • "And so instead of giving up on the economy, we decided that we were going to get the economy going again by removing obstacles to economic growth and job creation. Over the past 21 months that's exactly what we've done. We've removed burdensome regulations, and last December we passed an historic comprehensive reform of our tax code. Now the tax code isn't necessarily the first thing that people think of when they think of economic growth, but in actual fact, Mr. President, the tax code has a huge effect on our economy. A small business owner facing a huge tax bill is unlikely to hire a new employee. If her tax burden is heavy enough, she may not able to keep her business open."
• Spoke on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
  • "It doesn't matter how mainstream you are, how widely respected, how fair and impartial, if you're nominated by a Republican president, you're out. So, as I said, it came as no surprise that Democrats were determined to fight Judge Kavanaugh's nomination. The ink on the nomination was scarcely dry before the Democratic leader announced that he was going to, quote, fight this nomination with everything I've got. End quote. Mr. President, while I expected Democrats to fight Judge Kavanaugh's nomination, I expected them to do so honorably. I expected them to make their objections known, grill Judge Kavanaugh in the hearing, and then cast their votes against the judge. But that's not what happened."
• Spoke on the nomination of Peter Feldman to be a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
  • "Peter has been an exceptional member of my staff throughout my time as a member of the Commerce Committee. Serving as senior counsel for over seven years, Peter has been instrumental in drafting and negotiating bipartisan legislation and conducting meaningful oversight of federal agencies related to consumer product safety, unfair and deceptive trade practices and sports policy. Those who have had privilege of working with Peter would attest to his well-earned reputation for building consensus and forming coalitions to improve consumer safety."