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Member, Committee on Committees
Member, Congressional Coalition on Adoption
Former Chair, Finance Committee, United States Senate
Former Member, Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, United States Senate
Former Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Taxation, United States Congress
Former Chair, Joint Committee on Taxation, United States Congress
Former Member, Judiciary Committee, United States Senate
Member, Republican Policy Committee
Member, Senate Rural Health Caucus
Member, Senate Steel Caucus
Co-Chair, Senate Tanker Caucus
Former Member, Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Children and Families, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, United States Senate
Member, Committee on Committees
Member, Congressional Coalition on Adoption
Former Chair, Finance Committee, United States Senate
Former Member, Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, United States Senate
Former Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Taxation, United States Congress
Former Chair, Joint Committee on Taxation, United States Congress
Former Member, Judiciary Committee, United States Senate
Member, Republican Policy Committee
Member, Senate Rural Health Caucus
Member, Senate Steel Caucus
Co-Chair, Senate Tanker Caucus
Former Member, Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Children and Families, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, United States Senate
Astrological Sign:
Aries
— Father's Name:
— Father's Occupation:
First Job:
Singing; Playing the Piano, Violin, and Organ; Christian Music Recording Artist
— Mother's Name:
— Number of Grandchildren:
— Publications:
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-life
Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan?
- Yes
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- No
2. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- No
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants?
- No
Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production?
- Yes
Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No
Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No
Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- Yes
Do you support same-sex marriage?
- No
Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts?
- Yes
1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
2. Abortions should be illegal when the fetus is viable, with or without life support.
- No Answer
3. Abortions should always be legally available.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- X
6. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- X
7. Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and notification requirements as decided by each state government.
- X
8. Prohibit the dilation and extraction procedure, also known as "partial birth" abortion.
- X
9. Prohibit public funding of abortions and public funding of organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- X
10. Support funding for research on the drug RU-486.
- No Answer
11. Support "buffer-zones" by requiring demonstrators to stay at least five feet from abortion clinic doorways and driveways.
- No Answer
12. Provide funding for family planning programs as a means to decrease the number of abortions.
- X
13. Other
- No Answer
14. Will your Supreme Court nominees share your principles on abortion?
- No Answer
1. Agricultural programs
- Slightly Increase Funding
2. Arts funding
- Maintain Funding Status
3. Defense
- Greatly Increase Funding
4. Education
- Slightly Increase Funding
5. Environmental programs
- Maintain Funding Status
6. International aid
- Maintain Funding Status
7. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase Funding
8. Medical research
- Greatly Increase Funding
9. National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA)
- Maintain Funding Status
10. National Parks
- Maintain Funding Status
11. Scientific research
- Slightly Increase Funding
12. Transportation and Highway Infrastructure
- Maintain Funding Status
13. Welfare
- Maintain Funding Status
14. Other
- No Answer
15. Would you support enforcing the spending limits agreed to in 1997 by the President and Congress to balance the budget?
- Yes
1. Armed Forces personnel training
- Greatly Increase Funding
2. Covert intelligence operations
- Maintain Funding Status
3. Defense plant conversion
- Greatly Decrease Funding
4. Military hardware
- Slightly Increase Funding
5. Military space shuttle missions
- Maintain Funding Status
6. Pay for active duty personnel
- Greatly Increase Funding
7. National Missile Defense Program
- Greatly Increase Funding
8. Modernization of weaponry and equipment
- Greatly Increase Funding
9. Programs to improve military retention rates
- Greatly Increase Funding
10. Research and development of new weapons
- Greatly Increase Funding
11. Troop and equipment readiness
- Greatly Increase Funding
12. Other
- No Answer
1. Defense
- High Priority
2. Education
- High Priority
3. Federal debt reduction
- High Priority
4. Medicare
- Highest Priority
5. Social Security
- Highest Priority
6. Tax cuts
- High Priority
7. Other
- No Answer
1. Less than $25,000
- Eliminate
2. $25,000 - $75,000
- Greatly Decrease
3. $75,000 - $150,000
- Greatly Decrease
4. Over $150,000
- Greatly Decrease
5. Other
- No Answer
6. Over $40, 000
- Greatly Decrease
7. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status
8. Capital gains taxes
- Eliminate
9. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status
10. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Decrease
11. Estate taxes
- Eliminate
12. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status
13. Charitable deductions
- Slightly Increase
14. Medical expense deductions
- Greatly Increase
15. Mortgage deductions
- Maintain Status
16. Child tax credit
- Slightly Increase
17. Earned income tax credit
- Slightly Increase
18. Student loan tax credit
- Greatly Increase
1. Do you support replacing the current U.S. income tax structure with a flat income tax?
- Undecided
2. Do you support instituting a national sales tax?
- Undecided
3. Should a married couple filing jointly pay the same taxes as if they were an unmarried couple filing separately?
- Yes
4. Do you support requiring at least a 2/3 majority (super-majority) vote in both houses of Congress to raise taxes?
- Yes
5. Would you cut taxes if there were an operating surplus?
- Yes
6. Would you cut taxes and use Social Security surpluses to supplement the difference?
- No
1. Support public taxpayer funding for congressional candidates who comply with campaign spending limits.
- No Answer
2. Eliminate publicly financed matching funds for presidential campaigns.
- No Answer
3. Increase the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns.
- X
4. Strengthen and enforce legislation that encourages full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information.
- X
5. Prohibit Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions to candidates for federal office.
- No Answer
6. Provide free or low-cost television advertising to candidates who agree to voluntary campaign spending limits.
- No Answer
7. Ban unregulated soft money campaign contributions to political parties or committees.
- No Answer
8. Prohibit non-U.S. citizens from making soft money contributions to national parties or party committees.
- X
9. Require full disclosure of funding sources of issue advocacy commercials which appear within 60 days of an election.
- No Answer
10. Make campaign spending limits mandatory for all federal candidates.
- No Answer
11. Require unions to get members' permission before using union dues for political advocacy.
- X
12. Remove all contribution limits on federal candidates and parties, but require complete and immediate disclosure via the Internet.
- No Answer
13. Require congressional candidates to raise over half of their campaign money from their home state.
- No Answer
14. Other
- X
1. Broaden the use of the death penalty for federal crimes.
- No Answer
2. Eliminate the use of the death penalty for federal crimes.
- No Answer
3. Impose stricter penalties for violent felons.
- X
4. Increase spending to build more federal prisons.
- X
5. Impose "truth in sentencing" for violent criminals so they serve full sentences with no chance of parole.
- X
6. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X
7. Support programs to provide prison inmates with drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
- X
8. Increase penalties for crimes committed on school grounds.
- X
9. Increase funding for community policing programs.
- No Answer
10. Reduce prison sentences for those who commit non-violent crimes.
- No Answer
11. Require that crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability be prosecuted as federal hate crimes.
- No Answer
12. Enforcement of civil rights should primarily be the responsibility of the federal government.
- X
13. Other
- No Answer
14. Prosecute as adults, youths accused of a felony.
- X
15. Increase funding for local Boys & Girls Clubs and other independent organizations in communities with at-risk youth.
- X
16. Provide block grants to states for implementation of programs to combat juvenile crime.
- X
17. Impose harsher penalties for youths convicted of violent offenses.
- X
18. Support the use of "boot camps" as alternative sentencing for juvenile offenders.
- X
19. Support programs that provide job training and placement services for at-risk youth.
- X
1. Increase penalties for selling illegal drugs.
- X
2. Support mandatory jail sentences for selling illegal drugs.
- X
3. Support capital punishment for convicted international drug traffickers.
- X
4. Expand federally sponsored drug education and drug treatment programs.
- X
5. Decriminalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer
6. Decriminalize the production and use of industrial hemp for agricultural purposes.
- No Answer
7. Increase border security to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.
- X
8. Eliminate federal funding for programs associated with the "war on drugs."
- No Answer
9. Other
- No Answer
1. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- No Answer
2. Allow parents to use vouchers (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any publicly-funded school.
- X
3. Allow parents to use vouchers (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any participating school: public, private or religious.
- X
4. Allow parents to use tax-free savings accounts to send their children to any publicly-funded school.
- X
5. Allow parents to use tax-free savings accounts to send their children to any participating school: public, private or religious.
- X
6. Support creation of more charter schools where teachers and professionals receive authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- X
7. Give all federal education funding to states in the form of block grants and allow the states to spend it as they see fit.
- No Answer
8. Increase funding for block grants to states to help them hire additional teachers.
- X
9. Support voluntary teacher testing and reward teachers with merit pay.
- X
10. Support mandatory teacher testing and reward teachers with merit pay.
- No Answer
11. Increase funding to reduce class sizes.
- X
12. Increase funding for computers and computer training in public schools.
- X
13. Increase funding for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- X
14. Eliminate restrictions on federal education funding, giving educators or local school districts more flexibility to design and implement their programs.
- X
15. Other
- No Answer
16. Support affirmative action in public college admissions.
- No Answer
17. Eliminate federal financial aid for individuals convicted of drug offenses.
- No Answer
18. Increase funding of programs such as Pell grants and Stafford loans to help students pay for college.
- X
19. Support federal tax incentives to help families save for college.
- X
20. Religious expression on public school property should be allowed.
- X
21. Student religious groups should not be allowed to meet on public school property.
- No Answer
1. Provide tax credits for companies that move job-creating industries into areas with high unemployment.
- X
2. Increase funding for national job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- No Answer
3. Reduce government regulation of the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- X
4. Establish empowerment zones in areas with large numbers of unemployed people.
- X
5. Eliminate any federal programs designed to reduce unemployment.
- No Answer
6. Increase the federal minimum wage.
- No Answer
7. Encourage employers to offer flex-time scheduling, comp-time, and unpaid leave for family emergencies.
- X
8. Provide tax credits for businesses that offer on-site child care.
- X
9. Increase support for the AmeriCorps program.
- No Answer
10. Other
- X
11. The federal government should consider race and sex in making government contracting decisions.
- No Answer
12. The federal government should continue affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
13. The federal government should discontinue affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
14. The federal government should only utilize merits and qualifications in making government contracting decisions.
- X
1. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
- No Answer
2. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
- No Answer
3. Waive environmental review requirements for grazing permits.
- X
4. Revise the 1872 mining law to increase the fees charged to mining companies using federal lands.
- X
5. Require states to fully compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit uses of privately-owned land.
- X
6. Encourage further development and use of alternative fuels to reduce pollution.
- X
7. Strengthen emission controls on all gasoline or diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles.
- No Answer
8. Promote the selling of pollution credits between nations to encourage industries to decrease pollution levels.
- X
9. Strengthen logging restrictions on federal lands.
- No Answer
10. Strengthen regulations governing the security, safety, transportation, and storage of spent nuclear fuel and waste.
- X
11. Support the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel.
- X
12. Reduce current federal regulations on the environment.
- No Answer
13. Other
- X
14. Do you support the United Nations (Kyoto Conference) treaty, in its current form, regarding global climate change?
- No
1. Ban the sale or transfer of semi-automatic guns, except those used for hunting.
- No Answer
2. Maintain federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
3. Ease federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X
4. Repeal federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns by law-abiding citizens.
- X
5. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- X
6. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks on guns.
- X
7. Increase penalties for the possession of any illegal guns.
- X
8. Hold gun owners responsible for crimes committed with their guns by children age 16 and under.
- No Answer
9. Raise the minimum age for ownership of handguns from 18 to 21.
- No Answer
10. Require three business days for background checks of gun buyers at gun shows.
- No Answer
11. Strengthen enforcement of current regulations on guns.
- X
12. Require a license for gun possession.
- No Answer
13. Other
- X
1. Providing health care is not a responsibility of the federal government.
- No Answer
2. Implement a universal health care program to guarantee coverage to all Americans regardless of income.
- No Answer
3. Support health care strategies focused on prevention, including health education, and natural medicines and remedies.
- X
4. Support a Patient's Bill of Rights to define and enforce the rights of insured patients, including greater access to specialists and emergency rooms, wider choice of health care providers, and appeal mechanisms when claims are denied.
- X
5. Support a Patient's Bill of Rights which includes the right to sue when claims are denied.
- X
6. Allow small business owners, the self-employed and workers whose employers do not provide health insurance to have the same deductibility for health costs as corporations and large employers.
- X
7. Expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts, which would be taxed if used for purposes other than medical costs.
- X
8. Establish limits on the amount of damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- X
9. Allow states and local communities to use federal funds for needle-exchange programs to combat the spread of HIV.
- No Answer
10. Provide citizens age 55-65 the option of purchasing Medicare health coverage.
- No Answer
11. Support legislation to provide prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
- X
12. Increase funding for AIDS programs.
- X
13. Other
- No Answer
14. Do you support increasing taxes on alcohol and cigarettes to help defer costs of Medicare and Medicaid?
- No
1. Decrease the number of immigrants allowed into the country.
- No Answer
2. Increase the eligibility of legal immigrants for certain social programs (e.g. public housing, food stamps).
- No Answer
3. Require the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to reduce the time between applying for citizenship and taking the oath of allegiance to six months.
- No Answer
4. Provide extra federal aid to states with higher numbers of immigrants for necessary medical and social services.
- No Answer
5. Prohibit states from passing laws that deny human services (medical care, education) to illegal immigrants or their children.
- No Answer
6. Children of illegal immigrants, born in the U. S., should not automatically receive U.S. citizenship.
- No Answer
7. Increase the immigration quota for computer scientists and other information technology workers.
- X
8. Establish English as the official national language.
- No Answer
9. Support the separation of the INS into two bureaus: one administering naturalization and one administering border patrol.
- No Answer
10. Increase state autonomy to deal with immigration.
- No Answer
11. Reimburse states for providing services to illegal aliens.
- No Answer
12. Other
- X
1. Aid should be granted to countries when extraordinary circumstances cause disaster and threaten civilian lives.
- X
2. Aid should be granted to countries when it is in the security interests of the U. S.
- X
3. Aid should be granted to countries that are close allies of the U. S. and in need of financial/military assistance.
- X
4. Aid should be eliminated for any nation with documented human rights abuses.
- X
5. Aid programs should be scaled back and eventually eliminated except for extraordinary circumstances.
- X
6. Other
- X
7. Should the International Monetary Fund (IMF) be restructured so that it can respond to international financial crises more effectively?
- Yes
1. Colombia
- Slightly Increase Funding
2. Egypt
- Maintain Funding Status
3. Israel
- Maintain Funding Status
4. Kosovo province
- Slightly Increase Funding
5. Mexico
- Maintain Funding Status
6. North Korea
- Greatly Decrease Funding
7. Russia
- Slightly Decrease Funding
8. Turkey
- Slightly Increase Funding
9. Other
- No Answer
10. African Development Fund
- Maintain Funding Status
11. Agency for International Development(AID)
- Maintain Funding Status
12. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Maintain Funding Status
13. NATO Peace Keeping Missions
- Maintain Funding Status
14. UN Crisis and Humanitarian Aid
- Maintain Funding Status
15. UN Peace Keeping Missions
- Slightly Decrease Funding
16. World Bank
- Slightly Decrease Funding
1. The U.S. should maintain ground troops in the Kosovo province with a specific deadline for withdrawal.
- No Answer
2. The U.S. should maintain ground troops in the Kosovo province without a specific deadline for withdrawal.
- X
3. The U.S. should not maintain ground troops in the Kosovo province.
- No Answer
4. Other
- X
5. The U.S. should resolve future disputes with Iraq only through diplomatic means.
- No Answer
6. The U.S. should take unilateral military action if Iraq does not comply with all accepted United Nations resolutions.
- X
7. The U.S. should take military action against Iraq only as part of an international effort.
- No Answer
8. The U.S. should end the economic embargo against Iraq.
- No Answer
9. The U.S. should not continue to play a prominent leadership role in the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Authority.
- No Answer
10. The U.S. should continue to play a prominent leadership role in the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Authority.
- X
11. The U.S. should participate in United Nations peacekeeping missions only when vital U.S. interests are involved.
- No Answer
12. The U.S. should not commit military troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions.
- No Answer
13. The U.S. should withdraw completely from the United Nations.
- No Answer
14. The U.S. should pay its debt to the United Nations.
- X
15. Should the U.S. have full diplomatic relations with Cuba?
- No
16. Should the U.S. have full diplomatic relations with China?
- Yes
17. Should the U.S. recognize and extend full diplomatic relations to Taiwan?
- Undecided
18. Should the U.S. have full diplomatic relations with nations with documented human rights abuses?
- Yes
19. Do you support the cooperative threat reduction programs with Russia to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to unfriendly nations?
- Yes
20. Do you support modifying the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in order to deploy the National Missile Defense System?
- Yes
1. The US should use the United Nations to advance US international goals, not the other way around.
- The US should not indicate to our enemies when it will withdraw.
1. Do you support the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)?
- Yes
2. Do you support broadening NAFTA to include other countries in the western hemisphere?
- Yes
3. Do you support the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)?
- Yes
4. Do you support continued U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)?
- Yes
5. Do you support China becoming a member of the World Trade Organization?
- Yes
6. Do you support imposing tariffs on products imported from nations that maintain restrictive trade barriers on American products?
- Yes
7. Should a nation's human rights record affect its normal trade relations (most favored nation) trading status with the United States?
- Yes
8. Do you support normal trade relation (most favored nation) status with Vietnam?
- No Answer
9. Do you support granting the President "fast-track" authority in trade negotiations?
- Yes
10. Do you support the trade embargo against Cuba?
- Yes
11. Do you support strengthening the American anti-dumping laws which give the Commerce Department additional power to fight imports priced below the manufacturing cost?
- Yes
12. Do you support an open trade policy for the United States?
- No Answer
Do you believe there has been a decline in moral and ethical standards in America over the last four decades?
- Yes
1. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts which they manage themselves.
- X
2. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts managed by private firms contracted by the government.
- No Answer
3. Invest a portion of Social Security's assets collectively in stocks and bonds instead of U.S. Treasury securities.
- No Answer
4. Increase the payroll tax to better finance Social Security in its current form.
- No Answer
5. Invest a portion of the budget surplus into the Social Security trust fund.
- No Answer
6. Increase the minimum age that determines when retirees are eligible to receive full Social Security benefits.
- No Answer
7. Lower Social Security's annual cost-of-living increases.
- No Answer
8. Limit Social Security benefits based on recipients' other income and assets.
- No Answer
9. Require individuals to pay the Social Security tax on incomes above $68,400 (which is currently exempt).
- No Answer
10. Support a lock box measure, limiting Congress's ability to spend Social Security and Medicare surpluses on any other federal programs except Social Security and Medicare, until each program's long-term solvency is guaranteed.
- X
11. Other
- X
1. Implement taxes on commercial Internet transactions.
- No Answer
2. Implement regulation of Internet content by the federal government.
- No Answer
3. Allow voter registration on-line.
- No Answer
4. Allow voting on-line.
- No Answer
5. Support government mandates to curtail violent and sexual content on television.
- No Answer
6. Support strict penalties for Internet crimes such as hacking and Internet violence.
- X
7. Support strong Internet privacy laws.
- X
8. Regulation of the Internet should not in any way controlled by the federal government.
- No Answer
9. Other
- X
1. Support housing assistance for welfare recipients.
- X
2. Provide homeless families with apartment vouchers they can use to supplement the cost of an apartment.
- X
3. Continue to give states and local governments responsibility for welfare programs through block grants.
- X
4. Maintain current welfare-to-work requirements in order for states to qualify for block grants.
- X
5. Require that unwed teenage mothers live with a parent or guardian (if possible) and attend school to receive benefits.
- X
6. Restore food stamp programs to legal immigrants.
- No Answer
7. Transfer homeless housing programs to states through block grants.
- X
8. Provide continued Medicaid benefits for those welfare recipients who have moved from welfare to work.
- X
9. Provide federal assistance to low-income job applicants for transportation to jobs at some distance.
- No Answer
10. Require states to return any unused welfare block grant funding to the federal government.
- No Answer
11. Direct federal poverty aid through religious, community-based or other non-profit organizations.
- X
12. Other
- X
Latest Action: Senate - 12/20/2018 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Tracker:Latest Action: Senate - 12/20/2018 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Tracker:Latest Action: 12/19/2018 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Tracker:By Orrin Hatch The confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court is a fitting capstone to my many decades of service on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation is a victory for the committee and a victory for the rule of law. But it's a victory that came with a heavy price. Both the reputation of a good man and the character of the Senate were tarnished by the rank cynicism that was on full display over the course of this confirmation battle. For nakedly partisan purposes, Democrats plumbed the depths of political depravity to try to prevent this confirmation from going forward. In their scorched-earth approach, progressives sought not only to defeat Judge Kavanaugh's nomination; they fought to destroy his good name. Ultimately, they failed. As a testament to his character, Judge Kavanaugh survived the most sordid smear campaign in the history of American politics. Our nation saw the strength of his personal resolve firsthand during his confirmation hearing. In the face of multiple sensational allegations, Judge Kavanaugh refused to withdraw from the process and instead chose to defend his good name. Here's to celebrating Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation as a victory for truth over partisan manipulation. I have no doubt that Judge Kavanaugh will serve the Supreme Court with wisdom and impartiality. His record from his more than 12 years on the D.C. Circuit is impressive, to say the least. The Supreme Court has affirmed the positions in his opinions over a dozen times. He frequently found common legal ground with his liberal colleagues to reach unanimity, choosing to uphold neutral principles of law instead of resorting to quibbles over policy. When he did write dissents, his well-reasoned opinions were prominently featured, discussed and praised by legal scholars. Judge Kavanaugh's intelligence and experience make him eminently qualified. So does his character. Throughout this strained confirmation process, the Judiciary Committee has received countless letters from high school classmates, former students and former clerks all praising Judge Kavanaugh for his generosity and warmth. His female law clerks wrote that the court is "fairer and more equal" because of him. He is deeply dedicated to community service, coaching a middle school girls basketball team and dishing out casseroles at local soup kitchens. Of course, you would never know any of this from the Democrats' characterization of Judge Kavanaugh. From the moment he was nominated, they set out to make a monster of a mensch, maligning one of the most honorable men in the federal judiciary. I'm sorry that Judge Kavanaugh had to go through this ordeal. He did not deserve this. He is a good man. He spent decades building a reputation of honesty, decency and fairness. His opponents have done their best to destroy it with three weeks of smut and unsubstantiated allegations. But I know Brett Kavanaugh. I know him well. He is a man of great resilience and firm conviction. He is going to be a great justice, perhaps one of the greatest we've ever had. He will bring to the Supreme Court the integrity, honor and intellectual rigor he has demonstrated throughout his entire career. And soon, he will rebuild his reputation. He will earn the respect of his colleagues and the American people through his writings and his decisions. Of that I have no doubt. I hope that next week, my fellow senators and I can move on and start working together again -- but I worry we won't. I worry that this unjust and grossly unfair campaign against one of our nation's best and brightest public servants has left a permanent scar. I worry that the politicization of our courts has choked any spirit of compromise. The tragedy that played out in the Senate over the past few weeks represented a titanic breakdown in civility. I couldn't have been more delighted to cast my final Supreme Court confirmation vote in favor of Judge Kavanaugh. He will uphold the Constitution, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. My optimism about the court's future however, has been dampened by the Democrats' deeply troubling conduct during this most recent confirmation battle. I can only hope that Congress is able to recover even half the dignity that Judge Kavanaugh has displayed throughout his entire adult life and will continue to display while serving on the Supreme Court.
