Mitch McConnell

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time on the Truncale nomination expire at 10:45 a.m., Tuesday, May 14. I further ask unanimous consent that, if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 202, submitted earlier today.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 203, submitted earlier today.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1436, submitted earlier today.

Mr. McCONNELL. I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 14; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and that the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Truncale nomination; finally, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly conference meetings.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate has continued to make significant progress in the personnel business. After 2 years of systematic heel-dragging from our friends across the aisle, even on the least controversial nominations, the modest reform the Senate adopted last month is helping us to get back on track. Another slate of capable nominees is now on its way to work for the American people. They are precisely the same sort of unobjectionable sub-Cabinet nominees who, until very recently, would have been subjected to 30 hours of debate. They would have tied up the floor for days before being confirmed anyway. They are perfect examples of why the Senate returned to our longstanding norms of processing lower level nominations. Now the American people are getting the government they elected at a more reasonable pace. To be clear, the silly partisan games haven't all been cleared away from our work on nominations. For example, just yesterday, we confirmed Judge Joseph Bianco to serve on the Second Circuit by a relatively close vote of 54 to 42. Remember, for a judge, in the scope of Senate history, that counts as a close shave. So are we looking at a controversial person? Are we looking at an individual whom the Senators agonized over and painstakingly studied? Judge Bianco brings a unanimous ``well-qualified'' rating from the ABA, and he has already served as a judge for 13 years in the Eastern District of New York. Oh, by the way, he was confirmed to that position by a voice vote. In fact, back then in 2005, one of Mr. Bianco's most vocal supporters in the Senate was none other than our friend the Democratic leader. Here is how he praised his New Yorker to the Judiciary Committee in 2005. Senator Schumer said: ``I am proud to support someone as outstandingly qualified and well respected as Mr. Bianco.'' Well, that was then and this is now. The nominee is the same. Actually, he is not quite the same because now he has been a very highly regarded district judge for 13 years, so this nominee is actually even better. Yet the occupant of the White House is different. In this political moment, as we know, my Democratic colleagues' commitment to the ``outrage industrial complex'' seems to crowd out reasonable judgment. So now, this week, the Democratic leader lumped the same individual he used to champion into what he described as ``hard-right nominees.'' Then the Democratic leader and almost every other Member of his conference proceeded to vote against him. He voted against the same nominee he praised in such generous terms before. I can only conclude that now the ``outrage industrial complex'' comes first, not the facts, not the nominee's qualifications. The ``outrage industrial complex'' comes first. The individual whom the Democratic leader used to champion and who passed by a voice vote in 2005 now receives this partisan treatment. What was once a routine matter for acclamation becomes a party-line vote just because this President is the one who nominated him. Look, fortunately, at the end of the day, the outcome is the same. Judge Joseph Bianco, along with a slate of other well-qualified nominees, is now on the job, and the Republicans will continue our work to give the people the government they chose, the government they deserve.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another matter, as I mentioned, we are in the middle of a historic economic moment for the American people. Last week, the nationwide unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since December of 1969. In just the year and a half since the Republicans passed comprehensive tax reform, 19 States have set new alltime lows in their unemployment rates, including in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. If you compare today to November 2016, there are now nearly 70 percent more job openings in durable goods manufacturing and more than twice as many job openings in construction. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of new job openings in these sectors alone. Overall, under the Republicans' policies of the last 2 years, for the first time in recorded history, the number of job openings across the country has surpassed the number of Americans who are looking for work. Think about that. There is more than one job opening for every American who wants a job. So this economic moment, helped along by Republican policies, has placed American workers in much higher demand, and we know what happens when American workers are in high demand--they get paid more. Sure enough, from late 2017 to late 2018, wage growth for U.S. workers logged its fastest full-year growth rate in a decade. What is more, the New York Times reported: The recent gains are going to those who need it most. Over the past year, low-wage workers have experienced the fastest pay increases, a shift from earlier in the recovery, when wage growth was concentrated at the top. Of course, that phrase ``earlier in the recovery'' is code for during the Obama administration. How often do we hear the left invoke the stale talking point that pro-growth policies only help wealthy people? Anyone who has cracked open a history book knows it is absurd to say that American free enterprise only helps wealthy people and that State-controlled socialism helps everyone else. Anyone who has picked up a newspaper in the last year and a half knows it as well. Capitalism and free enterprise are the best tools humanity has ever discovered for lifting up the vulnerable and for empowering people. It was true in the 19th century; it was true in the 20th century; and it is still proving to be true in 2019. It has been on the Republicans' watch that we have actually seen low- wage workers and nonmanagement workers receive the fastest wage growth. It has been on the Republicans' watch that the unemployment rate specifically for Americans without high school diplomas has fallen to its lowest rate since 1992. It has been on the Republicans' watch that newspapers have described ``a wave of disabled Americans'' who have been able to join or return to the workforce. My Republican colleagues and I could not be more proud of the conditions our policies have helped to create for all kinds of American workers and their families, and we will continue to defend these gains, to put pro-growth, pro-opportunity reforms in place, and to stand up against the far-left grab bag of socialist ideas that would threaten America's progress. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 25.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 202.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 24.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 221.

Mr. McCONNELL

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived.