awesome responsibility in the u.s. supreme court. a former clerk for justice anthony kennedy, judge kavanaugh is an accomplished, experienced jurist with over 300 published opinions. more than 50 -- the supreme court has actually endorsed his opinions more than a dozen times. judge kavanaugh has dedicated his life to public service, serving in various roles in the executive branch under president george w. bush and for the last 12 years on the u.s. circuit court of appeals in the d.c. circuit. throughout this year's -- his years of service, judge kavanaugh has also had a very positive impact on those around him. just last week one of judge kavanaugh's earliest clerks was sworn in to serve on the u.s. court of appeals for the 11th circuit for the united states. that judge is judge brit grant.

he clerked for judge kavanaugh and served on george's supreme court and was elected to a full term without opposition and is now a justice on the u.s. court of appeals. judge kavanaugh introduced her when she was sworn into the georgia supreme court and he swore her into the courts of appeal last week. both judge grant and judge kavanaugh are where they are today is a testament to their years of service and work upholding the u.s. constitution. even with judge kavanaugh's outstanding qualifications that transcends party lines, some of my colleagues across the aisle are hysterically opposing him. some have said that they will vote against him before judge kavanaugh had been nominated. that kind of blind partisanship is what the american people find unacceptable about washington. judge kavanaugh is an independent, well-qualified nominee to the united states supreme court.

he'll defend and uphold the united states constitution. his own remarks following his nomination -- by the way, the white house when the president announced the president would be his nominee, i was really moved by judge kavanaugh's comments that night. he first spoke about his mom and how she had later become a lawyer. he talked about his father, he talked about his two children, and only at the very end did he say these brief words. he made this comment in the east room of the white house the night that president donald trump had nominated him and made it public that he was the nominee for the u.s. supreme court. this is judge kavanaugh's quote, and i quote, i revere the constitution. i believe that an independent judiciary is the crown jewel of our constitutional republic. if confirmed by the senate, i will keep an open mind in every case and i will always strive to preserve the constitution of the united states and the american

rule of law. unquote. i don't know how you could be more clear than that, mr. president. in 2006, during his confirmation hearings for the d.c. circuit, he faced unmerited accusations, much as he is today. judge kavanaugh simply responded, and i quote, there is one kind of judge, an independent judge under our constitution, unquote. i think it's very clear where this man's mind is, and that is to protect and uphold the constitution of the united states. those quotes show that this man is very serious and he needs to be strong and considered as the next justice of the united states supreme court. in my opinion, mr. president, there can be no higher responsibility in this body than to be very diligent in our due diligence of nominating and confirming a justice to the united states supreme court. having done that, i give this man my fullest unreserved

recommendation, and i encourage our colleagues in this body to also vote positively on his confirmation. now, mr. president, i'd like also for the record today to make a couple of comments regarding where we are right now. this is august 16, 2018. normally this body, by tradition, at least in the last 50 years or so, would be back in the state in a state workweek. but i'd like to give the majority leader, senator mitch mcconnell from kentucky, full credit for deciding to keep us here this week and the next couple of weeks in august which would normally be back -- swearnts would normally be back in their states. this was never, mr. president, when we brought this up as a suggestion, it was never about staying here in august, it was only about two things. it was about trying to use every day that we could to get as many

nominees confirmed as we could before the end of the year. now, why is that important? today, because of the obstructionism of the minority party, mr. president, we have over 300 -- the last count was 331 nominees waiting to be confirmed. by some estimates this president will not be able to form his government for ten years. last time i checked, even if he gets reelected, he won't get it done in ten years. this is one of the reasons we wanted to stay here and get as many nominees done in this month as we could. the second, and equally important purpose of staying here as using as many days as we could, mr. president, was to fund the government by the end of the fiscal year. something that this body has done only four times in 44 years, since the 1974 budget act was put into law. let me say that again. only four times has the senate and the house actually funded the federal government on time in the last 44 years. we're supposed to pass 12

appropriation bills to do that. the average over those 44 years, mr. president, is only two and a half. this has led to directly to the $21 trillion debt crisis we have today. as a matter of fact, as i stand here today, there are only 12 working days -- the way the senate works, there are only 12 working days between now and the end of the fiscal year. to the credit of the leadership and both sides of the aisle, we have passed seven appropriation bills this year, so we are better than any other congress in the last 44 years. unfortunately we have five to do and -- to go and predominately that will be spent on the discretionary which is $4.3 trillion of what the government will spend. we only have 12 working days to do five bills which will total almost $1 trillion.

now, mr. president, getting close is not good enough. in the real world, if you don't get the whole job don't you don't get to compete and when you don't compete you don't survive. in my view, we have several opportunities. right now we know 12 working days the way the senate nomplely -- normally works, if we vote on friday and monday's, we have 15 days. my rule is this, we get all of them funded or we fail. that means that we've got 12 working days the way we normally operate to fund five more appropriation bills. mr. president, we're called here primarily in this body the first calling of the six reasons is to fund the federal government. i'm absolutely committed to that. i know most people in here are, but right now we've got to be dead serious about what the goal is. and the goal is funding the entire government of the united states. mr. president, to do that we've

got to pass five more bills in the next 12 days. i'm going to end here, but i want to call out one other thing, and that is this is not just this year, i want to thank the leadership, both democrat and republican in the house and the senate, for forming the joint select committee that's under way right now. i have the privilege to be a member of that committee. there are 16 members, eight from the senate, eight from the house, eight republicans, eight democrats. two cochair, one democrat, one republican. and our charge is to come up with a new way, a different way to fund the federal government every year. i will tell you right now we're making progress. this is a tough hill to climb but we have the right people, i believe, the right leadership, and i want to thank leadership for allowing us to have the opportunity to make that effort. by november 30 we're charged to bring back a proposal that will change the way we fund the federal government going forward. that is the final comment is

that this can't be a one off year where we get the majority of these bills done. we have to get them all done by september 30. we have to put in place a way to get this done every year, like breathing, like everybody else in the real world does. mr. president, it's an honor an privilege to be in the united states senate, but it's an even bigger honor when we get our job done. thank you, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. wicker: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: and on behalf of the majority, i yield back all time. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

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the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 81, the nays are 8. the nomination is confirmed. the majority leader.

mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that with respect to the quattlebaum and richardson nominations, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will resume legislative session and proceed to the consideration of h.r. 6157, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 500, h.r. 6157, an act making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2019, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: mr. president, i call up the substitute amendment number 3695. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama, mr. shelby, proposes an amendment numbered 3695. mr. shelby: i ask consent, mr. president, that the reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i call up amendment number 3699. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell, for mr. shelby, proposes an amendment numbered 3699 to

amendment numbered 3695. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. shelby: are we in a quorum call? mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: mr. president, today -- there's no quorum call, is there? the presiding officer: no. mr. shelby: today the senate begins debate on an appropriations package that i believe is absolutely essential

to the strength and security of this nation. the package before the senate marries the two largest fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills, that is the defense bill that funds all the national security and the labor h.h.s. education bill. each of these bills, mr. president, carries the near unanimous support of the appropriations committee, which is quite unusual. the chairman of the labor h.h.s. subcommittee, senator blunt, and his ranking member, senator murray, worked together to produce a strong bipartisan bill that balances many competing priorities. i commend both of these senators for their hard work and i want to take this time to thank thim for their continued -- thank them for their continued efforts in this regard. soon, senators blunt and murray, if they haven't been here yet, will come to the floor to discuss the particulars of the

labor h.h.s. division of this package. i won't get into the details of that bill. as chairman of the defense subcommittee, i want to provide my colleagues with an overview of the funding it kaints for america -- contains for america's military. secretary mattis, secretary of defense, as we know, a decorated general who commands deep respect on the other side of the aisle has warned us that failure to modernize our military risk leaving us with a force that could dominate the last war but be irrelevant to tomorrow's security. think about that for a minute. we cannot allow that to happen. i say, mr. president, we must rebuild america's military where we'll be second to none in the world. we have to defend this nation first and foremost. mr. president, i'm pleased here

this afternoon in the u.s. senate to report that this bill takes a big step in that direction. i will explain why. it provides an additional $67.9 billion for overseas contingency operations. the fiscal year 2018 defense bill enacted earlier this year contained the largest increase in military spending in 15 years. the bill now before us, mr. president, does even better by providing an additional $16 billion above the 2018 level. the funding sustains u.s. force structure and improves military readiness. it also provides critical resources for the wide range of priorities that are essential to maintaining our technological superiority in an increasingly complex and competitive national

security environment. the bill before us includes substantial investments in the areas of basic research, hyper sonics, directed energy, artificial intelligence, microelectronics, missile defense, cybersecurity, and our test and evaluation infrastructure among many other priorities. just as important the package before the senate today provides our men and women in uniform with the largest pay increase they've seen in nearly a decade and they certainly deserve it. and as we debate this bill over the coming days, the sacrifices of these brave men and women should be the top -- atop of the mind of all of us. in light of their sacrifices, mr. president, i believe it's our duty to ensure that they're best prepared and the best equipped military in the world.

mr. president, the american military is the most feared fighting force the world has ever known, and we want to keep it that way. this bill ensures that continues to be true. that is how we defend this nation. i want to thank the vice chairman at this time of the defense subcommittee, senator durbin, for his valuable input in crafting this bill. together i believe we've produced a balanced bill that meets the pentagon's objectives and includes the contributions of senators from both sides of the aisle. i'm proud to present this legislation to my colleagues and i urge their strong support. mr. president, i also want to recognize the vice chairman of the full appropriations committee and his work on the committee, senator leahy and the leaders of both sides, including senators mcconnell and

schumer. at the outset of the appropriations cycle here, the four of us met and agreed to work together in an effort to return the senate to regular order. and since that time, the appropriations committee has passed all 12 bills before the july 4 recess, all with strong bipartisan margins. the first time, mr. president, as you know, has been done in 30 years. the first minibus contained three bills and passed the senate by a vote of 86-5. it is now in conference with the house. the second minibus contained four bills, two of which had not seen the light of day on the senate floor in many years, interior and fsgg. that package by a vote, mr. president, of 92-6. hopefully it will soon be in conference as well. by august the senate had passed

more appropriations bills than our counterparts in the house. that had not happened, mr. president, in the last 20 years. none of this would have been possible, mr. president, without the partnership of vice chairman leahy and the leaders mcconnell and schumer with us. i want to thank both of them once again. mr. president, our work continues, starting now. we have a great opportunity to extend the success we have generated thus far. it has been more than a decade since the senate passed a labor h.h.s. appropriations bill, period. and it's been a dozen years since the president was able to sign a defense appropriation bill into law before object 1. -- october 1. these two records i believe, mr. president, must be broken. we must not only provide the

resources necessary to rebuild our military, we must do so before the end of the fiscal year. there's no time to waste when it comes to our national security. with the confirmed cooperation of my colleagues, i'm confident that we will continue to do our work done in a deliberate and a timely manner, and i want to thank all senators for working together to produce regular order in the appropriation process. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

ms. stabenow: mr. president, i ask suspense of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you. mr. president, i rise today to pay tribute to a woman whose voice and whose soul truly was larger than life. aretha franklin was known first and foremost as a singer and

what a singer she was. for so many of us, her voice provided a sound track to the highs and lows of our lives. a couple of things happened on april 29, 1967. for one, it was my 17th birthday. for another, that was the day that aretha franklin released "respect." and let me tell you, that song felt like a gift that day, and it felt like a gift every time i've heard it ever since. her voice really was a gift, not just to me but to the whole world. she won 18 grammies -- grammies. the grammy lifetime achievement award was the 1974 kennedy center honors awardee and was the first woman, the first woman

inducted into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. she was the recipient of the united states highest civilian honor, the presidential medal of freedom. and a panel of music experts convened by "rolling stone magazine" in 2008 named her the greatest singer of all time. not bad for a preacher's daughter from detroit. all those awards are important. however, they don't begin to measure just how she made us feel. i'll never forget the 2015 kennedy center honors, which saluted my friend singer-songwriter carole king. aretha central toed on stage in her if you are and she was pure

magic. her soulful rendition of "natural woman" made carole king dance in her seat and she made president obama tear up. and those final magnificent notes, when she tossed her coat on the stage and raised her arms in triumph, brought every single person in that audience to their feet, including me. her voice was remarkable, so remarkable in fact that the michigan legislature declared it to be a precious natural resource in 1986. that remarkable voice of hers wasn't limited to songs, however. aretha also used her voice, sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, to speak up for justice and to make a difference in detroit and across the country.

that's probably no surprise, given her roots. aretha was the daughter of pastor c.l. franklin of new bethel baptist church in detroit. and she first found her voice singing and playing the piano in church and in other places in detroit. the reverend franklin was active in the civil rights movement, alongside leaders, including dr. martin luther king jr., and aretha was there to quietly fund the work. her longtime friend, the reverend jesse jackson, shared his memory with "the detroit free press" last week. when dr. king was alive, he said, several times she helped us make payroll. on one occasion we took an 11-city tour with her as aretha franklin and harry belafonte, and they put gas in the vans and

she did is it 1 concerts for free. he added, aretha has always been a very socially conscious artist, an inspiration, not just an entertarian. -- entertainer. recently in michigan where she was named the michiganian of the year in 20035, was awarded the detroit news lifetime achievement award in june. according to pastor robert smith jr. of new bethel baptist, a few times a year aretha would send the church checks, big ones not small ones. that was in addition to her annual free concerts featuring famous gospel singers and free holiday meals, and speaking of food, aretha's generous support of food banks in metro detroit was one reason why she was named

the 2008 music cares person of the year. her generosity literally fed detroit families, and her music fed the world's souls. i was honored personally to have the opportunity to be with aretha on many occasions, and i was particularly honored to have the opportunity to introduce her a year ago in june 2017 when she gave her last concert in michigan, in detroit, at the detroit music festival. i know i'm not the only person who can say that no matter the song, no matter the temperature,

when i hear aretha sing, i get chills. the world has lost a legend. however,ed the world can also take comfort in the fact that aretha will always be with us. in her voice, aretha was given an amazeing gift. her gift to us was sharing it. and we are very grateful. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: