Interior, Environment, Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, yesterday, during the lunch hour, Kevin Hassett, Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, brought a number of charts and a very welcomed message, which was that the American economy is very strong and that many of the predictions that have been made during the course of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act debate have proven to be true--the positive comments. The negative comments have proven to be false in terms of what the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would do to restart this great economic engine known as the American economy.
Back home in Texas, we issued our monthly employment report, and it included good news, which I would also like to share. First, Texas created 27,000 new jobs in June. That is a whole lot of people who are moving up, pursuing new opportunities, and moving into our State from places in which they don't have those opportunities. A single new job can mean a lot of things in a person's life, but at the very least, it means a fresh start, a chance to be challenged, to grow, and to put a few extra dollars in the bank. Now multiply the 27,000 new jobs by 12, and you can see that the impact on workers, families, and our entire State is huge.
I am glad to say that this is the 24th consecutive month of job growth in Texas, and the folks I have talked to around the State in places like College Station, Austin, and Amarillo, just to name a few, are pretty excited. They are also relieved. They are relieved that the Texas unemployment rate continues to decline and are excited that once again we have been called the top State for business. All told, Texas has added 360,000 new jobs over the last 12 months. That is 360,000 new jobs in Texas over the last 12 months.
Mayor Jerry Morales of Midland, TX, who is also the owner of several restaurants there, said recently: ``This economy is on fire.'' Apparently the fire has reached as far as his kitchen because he is having trouble retaining cooks at his restaurant. In other words, the economy is running strong, unemployment is low, and the labor participation rate continues to go up, but employers are having a hard time finding qualified workers to perform the good, well-paying jobs that do exist. That is exactly what a competitive labor market looks like. Other employers in the Permian Basin around Midland have doubled the previous pay of new employees because of the competitive labor market there. Those are just a couple of stories in one area of my State. There are many more.
I continue to hear from my constituents about the positive impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act--landmark legislation we enacted at the end of last year. Just to remind everybody, we cut tax rates; we doubled the standard deduction, meaning that fewer people will actually have to fill out the long-form tax return; and we doubled the child tax credit. What is more, we encouraged companies that had billions of dollars in cash parked overseas that they didn't want to see taxed twice to bring that money back home, and they have been bringing hundreds of billions of dollars of money previously parked overseas back here to the United States and putting it to work.
Earlier this summer, we hit the 6-month anniversary of the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. During that time, I have heard from men and women--William Alderman, for example. Mr. Alderman is a retired, disabled soldier who said that the new tax law increased his monthly income enough to ease the rising cost of his living expenses. Maybe that will not make headlines in the New York Times or the Washington Post, but that is a big deal to Mr. Alderman. I heard from Kim Ewing in Mesquite, who hadn't seen a pay raise in 7 years. Now she has one, and you can imagine she is grateful for it. She wrote that she is glad her Federal Government is finally getting what she calls a little ``common sense.''
The good news is not limited to Texas. We have seen the country on fire when it comes to our economy. We have seen newfound optimism and confidence in the future. That is a good thing because during the preceding 8 years, before the current administration, before we had done this, we had been told that we have to accept slow growth and stagnant wages as the new normal. We know that is not true because people can hope for and aspire and work for better, and with the right policies in place, they can be rewarded more generously for their hard work and their diligence and their self-discipline.
We have also heard from large companies in large cities. We have heard from small businesses in small cities. We have heard that some of the big businesses are handing out bonuses and raises and 401(k) increases. We have heard about the effects in some of our rural areas and the effects on people who sometimes get overlooked in the national conversation.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a report showing that the estimated effective tax rates declined for all farms of all sizes and that farm households could pay close to 20 percent less in taxes. During a time of tough commodity prices, that is welcome news, that their bill to the Federal Government--Uncle Sam--is going to go down by 20 percent.
Unsurprisingly, most Americans now believe that economic conditions are good or excellent and that the economy is improving. As I said, optimism is high. To be specific, it is at a 14-year high.
After years of stagnant wage growth, after the previous administration ignored the plight of the average American worker and paid short shrift to his or her real circumstances--the bills they had to pay, the salary they earned each month--it is about time somebody got the message that Kim Ewing was talking about. In her words, this Congress got a little bit of ``common sense'' and passed the first major overhaul of the Tax Code in 30 years. Was it perfect? Well, of course, not. Are we still working to make those reforms bigger and better? Absolutely. But the main point is that we knew that American workers elected us to actually do something, not to just talk about it, and we sure weren't going to turn our backs on their everyday concerns, things they talk about around the kitchen table.
What are the results 6 months later? The United States as a whole added 213,000 jobs in June--more than expected. Average hourly earnings are up close to 3 percent. Manufacturers are more optimistic than at any other time in modern history. It is not just me saying it; it is the chief economist of the National Association of Manufacturers.
This week, Leader McConnell has been talking a lot about the difference between rhetoric--what President Obama offered--and the results we have been able to deliver. I agree with that contrast. As the majority leader put it, all of us agree with the rhetoric about creating jobs, ``[b]ut not everybody supported the policy agenda that's helped deliver results for the American people.'' That is a chronic problem here in Washington, DC-- saying one thing and doing another. So we not only tried to say the right thing, we tried to do the right thing by the American people, and I think we have succeeded.
Unfortunately, like so much of what happens here in Washington, DC, even creating this newfound optimism, this confidence in the future, more take-home pay, and a lower tax burden--in spite of those benefits, it still surprises me that not a single Democrat voted for tax reform. It was a party-line vote. Every single Democrat in the Senate voted against tax reform. I bet the commonsense men and women, such as Kim Ewing, the lady from Mesquite, TX, whom I mentioned, are taking note.
(Mrs. FISCHER assumed the Chair.) Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh
Madam President, on to one more topic, earlier this month, I was privileged to be at the White House when President Trump announced whom he would nominate to serve in the seat being vacated by Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court. The President had a great roster of judges to choose from, but he settled on Brett Kavanaugh, who I have been here on the floor saying I believe is a stellar pick.
His nomination continues what we in the Senate have been doing in the last 18 months--voting on well-qualified nominees to fill the Federal bench, and we have been confirming them at a record pace. These are people who, by definition, will serve for a lifetime. That is what Federal judges do in our country. They have life tenure. They are not subject to election, and they get the independence that goes along with it and a unique job in our system of government of calling balls and strikes, applying the law to the facts of an individual case. It is an incredibly important role to play.
Sadly, during the discussion about Judge Kavanaugh that we will take up here soon--it increasingly appears that some of our Democratic colleagues aren't particularly interested in the qualifications of the nominee. They don't seem particularly interested in whether they will or will not rule in accordance with the law and the Constitution as written. Instead, they have made very clear that they are looking for judges whose views line up with the political opinions and views of the Democratic Party.
I am glad to see that a few of them are breaking rank. The minority leader has issued an edict to his Members saying: Don't meet with the judge until we work out something on the documents that we want to see from his time working at the White House Counsel's Office, as Staff Secretary, or as a member of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. But fortunately some of the Democrats have broken rank and decided that they want to visit with the judge, which I think is entirely appropriate.
As I said, the minority leader wants to get into a contest over how many documents are going to be produced. Well, let me put this in context. Our Democratic colleagues have requested at least 1 million pages of documents on Judge Kavanaugh. How many were produced for Justice Kagan, who sits on the Supreme Court? Well, it is about 173,000 pages versus 1 million. Like Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Kagan actually worked at the White House, at the White House Counsel's Office.
But what strikes me as so ironic and maybe just a little bit hypocritical is that when Judge Kavanaugh was confirmed to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006, they didn't want to see any of those documents. They couldn't have cared less. Now, all of a sudden, they have become the most important things in the world they could get their hands on during this confirmation process. That ought to tell us something.
As I mentioned, the minority leader has told his colleagues to stop meeting with the judge, but a few have broken rank, and I know Judge Kavanaugh is grateful for their political courage.
Our colleague from Indiana, the senior Senator, said that he ``always'' planned to meet with Judge Kavanaugh. The junior Senator from Delaware said that ``of course'' he will meet with the nominee. And the senior Senators from West Virginia and North Dakota have said they will too. Good for them. I hope this means that the dam of resistance is finally breaking and that more of our colleagues across the aisle will follow suit. I am sure they will learn something by visiting with Judge Kavanaugh, and I am sure they will be impressed, as I was when I met with the nominee and heard more of his story, because the truth is, Judge Kavanaugh is eminently qualified and well respected by everybody who knows him.
I look forward to voting both in the Judiciary Committee and then on the floor of the U.S. Senate early this fall and confirming him for the vacancy left by Justice Kennedy's retirement.
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