[Senate Hearing 116-222]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-222
BUSINESS MEETING
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
_________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
40-710 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Chairman
JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware,
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia Ranking Member
KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
MIKE BRAUN, Indiana BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
JONI ERNST, Iowa TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
Richard M. Russell, Majority Staff Director
Mary Frances Repko, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
OPENING STATEMENTS
Barrasso, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming...... 1
Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware.. 2
LEGISLATION
Bill, S. 2099, A bill to redesignate the Sullys Hill National
Game Preserve in the State of North Dakota as the White Horse
Hill National Game Preserve.................................... 58
Committee Resolutions:
Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Benefits
Administration, San Diego, CA.............................. 59
Department of Health and Human Services, Department of
Commerce Federal Housing Finance Agency, Chicago, IL....... 62
Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs,
Veterans Health Administration, Kanasas City, MO........... 64
Nomination References and Reports:
PN887, Katherine Andrea Lemos, of California to be a Member
of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board...... 66
PN964, Aurelia Skipwith, of Indiana, to be Director of the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service.................... 69
PN971, Katherine Andrea Lemons, of California, to be
Charirperson of the Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board........................................ 72
Committee Resolutions:
Social Security Administration, Albuquerque, NM.............. 74
Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service,
Brooklyn, NY............................................... 77
Department of Education New York, NY......................... 79
Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health
Administration, South Hamptons Road, VA.................... 81
Department of Veterans Affairs, Fredericksburg, VA........... 83
Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Benefits
Administration, San Diego, CA.............................. 85
Department of Health and Human Services, Department of
Commerce, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Chicago, IL...... 87
Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs,
Veterans Health Administration, Kansas City, MO............ 89
Social Security Administration, Albuquerque, NM.............. 91
Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Servcie,
Brooklyn, NY............................................... 93
Department of Education, New York, NY........................ 95
Department of Veterans Affairs, South Hamptons Road, VA...... 97
Department of Veterans Affairs, Fredericksburg, VA........... 99
Bills:
S. 2099, To redesignate the Sullys Hill National Game
Preserve in the State of North Dakota as the White Horse
Hill National Game Preserve................................ 101
S. 2260, To provide for the improvement of domestic
infrastructure in order to prevent marine debris, and for
other purpose.............................................. 103
BUSINESS MEETING
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:19 a.m. in room
406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Barrasso
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Barrasso, Carper, Inhofe, Capito, Cramer,
Braun, Rounds, Sullivan, Boozman, Wicker, Shelby, Ernst,
Cardin, Whitehouse, Merkley, Gillibrand, Van Hollen.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING
Senator Barrasso. Good morning. I call this hearing to
order.
Today we are going to consider two nominees, two bills, and
eight General Services Administration resolutions. Senator
Carper and I have agreed that we will begin voting at 9:30. At
that time, I will call up the items on the agenda. We won't
debate the items on the agenda while we are voting. Instead, we
will begin debating the items on the agenda before we begin
voting, and I will be happy to recognize any member who still
wishes to speak after voting concludes.
We will consider two nominations: Aurelia Skipwith to be
Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; and
Katherine Lemos to be a Member and the Chairperson of the
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
The full committee held a hearing on both nominees earlier
this month. Ms. Skipwith's nomination to be Director of the
Fish and Wildlife Services has received bipartisan praise from
more than 80 groups and individuals, including the Association
of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Union Sportsmen's Alliance,
the Boone and Crockett Club's Conservation Policy Committee,
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Farm Bureau Federation,
Presidents of Howard and Purdue Universities, President and CEO
of the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial, and a
coalition of 28 sportsmen and conservation groups.
Senator Carper and I have agreed that we will begin voting,
as I have described. We also had Congressman William Lacy Clay,
who represents Missouri's First congressional District, based
in St. Louis, he was here to deliver a resounding endorsement
of Ms. Skipwith when he introduced her at the nomination
hearing. Congressman Clay testified to State the facts plainly:
``Ms. Skipwith is one of the most talented, hardest-working and
driven persons I have ever known.'' He noted, ``If confirmed,
Aurelia Skipwith will become the first African American to head
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This is a historical
nomination.''
Dr. Lemos' nomination to be Member and Chairperson of the
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has been
endorsed by the former Executive Director and current Deputy
Executive Director of the Federal Aviation Administration's
Accident Investigation and Prevention office, and Mark Chapman,
a Boeing 787 pilot, who is a former chair of several aviation
safety committees on the Airline Pilots Association. Professor
Meshkati, an engineer and aviation safety professor at the
University of Southern California, who has worked with the
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board since its
inception, and wrote of Dr. Lemos, ``I strongly believe that
Dr. Lemos is an embodiment of professional excellence in
accident investigation, whose impeccable technical credentials
and leadership experience are an invaluable asset to the U.S.
Chemical Safety Board.''
Confirming Dr. Lemos is a priority. In December of this
year, the Chemical Safety Board will be down to one member. We
called upon the Administration to fill both the current and
future vacancies at the agency. We cannot allow the agency to
lose its quorum.
Today we will also consider two bills, S. 2260, Senator
Sullivan's and Senate Whitehouse's Save Our Seas 2.0: Improving
Domestic Infrastructure to Prevent Marine Debris Act, with a
substitute amendment, and S. 2099, Senator Cramer's White Horse
Hill National Game Preserve Designation Area.
The Save Our Seas Act addresses the important issue of
plastic pollution in our oceans. The bill supports increased
scientific research to better understand and address the root
causes of plastic pollution both here in the United States and
around the world. It improves our waste management systems,
particularly with regard to recycling infrastructure.
The White Horse Hill National Game Preserve Designation Act
redesignates Sullys Hill National Game Preserve as the White
Horse Hill National Game Preserve. Administered by the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the preserve is within the Spirit
Lake Indian Reservation near Devil's Lake, North Dakota. The
Spirit Lake Tribe has requested the preserve be renamed White
Horse Hill, which is its traditional Dakota name.
Last, we will also consider eight resolutions to approve
prospectuses providing for GSA leases. I urge my colleagues to
support passage of each of the nominees, bills, and resolutions
we are considering today. I would now like to turn to Ranking
Member Carper.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS R. CARPER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE
Senator Carper. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Good morning,
everyone.
As the Chairman said, on the agenda that we have before us
today, two nominees, two pieces of legislation and eight
General Services Administration lease prospectuses, including
two prospectuses for Veterans Administration facilities.
The two nominations being considered by the committee today
are Ms. Aurelia Skipwith and Dr. Katherine Lemos. Ms. Skipwith
has been nominated to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
an important agency responsible for enforcing Federal wildlife
laws, and managing our Nation's treasured wildlife resources.
On August 29th, nearly 2 weeks before the nomination
hearing, I sent Ms. Skipwith a letter, asking her to provide
answers concerning the nature of her activities on behalf of
one longtime employer, long with an explanation of the extent
to which she has tried to avoid potential conflicts of interest
since assuming her current responsibilities at the Department
of Interior.
Less than 24 hours before our hearing, I still had not
received a response. I then met personally with Ms. Skipwith on
September 10th, and implored her to respond to my letter. Just
hours before our nomination hearing, I finally did receive a
response that, regrettably, was incomplete.
As I promised repeatedly during her nomination hearing on
September 11th, I subsequently provided Ms. Skipwith with
another opportunity to shed light on her disclosures, this
time, through her responses to questions in plain English, for
the hearing record. Yet again, she failed to be completely
forthright in her responses.
In fact, in one of her responses, Ms. Skipwith actually
suggested that I file a Freedom of Information Act request to
obtain the information I was seeking, such as calendar records
that would help paint a picture of the meetings she has taken
since she joined the Department of Interior. Asking a Senator
to FOIA for information that Ms. Skipwith can easily provide is
a disappointing departure from how nominees typically handle
such requests from lawmakers.
I regret to say that in the case of Ms. Skipwith,
unfortunately, my willingness to give her some benefit of the
doubt really has not been reciprocated by a serious effort on
her part to be fully responsive to a number of questions. This
situation does not instill, at least to me, and a number of our
colleagues, confidence in her nomination.
If nominees before this committee do not choose to respond
to legitimate and reasonable questions from any members of this
committee during the confirmation process, it doesn't offer
much in the way of assurance that they will prove to be more
responsive after being confirmed. Even historical nominees have
an obligation to fully respond to reasonable and appropriate
questions that are asked of them by members of this committee
during the nomination process.
Given these concerns, I am unable to support her nomination
today. Having said that, if Ms. Skipwith is willing and able to
fully produce the records that I have requested, as well as to
engage with our members on other questions that were not
completely answered, it would demonstrate to me that she
recognizes the importance of congressional oversight, and I
would strongly consider supporting her nomination on the Senate
floor.
That leads me to the nomination of Dr. Katherine Lemos to
serve on the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an
important, independent Federal agency that is charged with
investigating industrial chemical accidents.
As with Ms. Skipwith, a number of our colleagues in the
minority initially shared serious concerns with the Lemos
nomination. In this case, several questions arose during the
confirmation with respect to her views on climate change and
its effect on the safety of chemical facilities; and in turn,
to her ability to be an objective, independent safety
investigator.
In the case of Dr. Lemos, however, the nominee clarified
her responses in the questions for the hearing record and did
assuage the concerns of the minority. Because she clarified her
responses and did so in a timely manner, we are pleased to join
our Republican colleagues in moving forward her nomination
today.
In addition to considering these two nominations, we are
also set to consider the Save Our Seas Act 2.0. As co-chair of
the Senate Recycling Caucus, along with our colleague John
Boozman, I appreciate and applaud the bipartisan leadership of
Senators Whitehouse and Sullivan to improve recycling and
address widespread and worsening problems in marine debris in
Planet Earth.
As some of our colleagues know, prior to the markup,
concerns were raised about one provision of the bill, a study
on incineration, which has been removed from the substitute
that we will vote on today. In recent days, however, we have
heard from several other critics of this legislation that
suggests we may have some additional work to do on this
legislation. I am committed to that effort before the measure
is considered by the full Senate.
Let me add one last brief comment before closing. That is
just to say that I am happy that our committee is set to move
legislation today that will change the name of Sullys Hill
National Game Preserve in North Dakota to its Dakota name, the
White Horse Hill National Game Preserve. This action by our
committee will help to ensure that the Spirit Lake Tribe's
story of the white stallion will be ingrained in our Nation's
history for years to come. Quite simply, this is the right
thing to do, and I want to thank Senator Cramer for his work.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to our business
meeting. Thank you, along with our colleagues, members of our
staffs for all the work that has been done to make it possible
for what I hope will be a productive and brief meeting. Thanks
a lot.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you very much, Senator Carper. We
do have enough members who have arrived. I want to move to the
votes on the items on today's agenda. The Ranking Member and I
have agreed to bring up one nominee for a separate vote, and
then the Ranking Member has requested that this nominee receive
a roll call vote. The Ranking Member and I have agreed to vote
on the one nominee, two bills and eight General Services
Administration resolutions en bloc by voice. Members may choose
to have their votes recorded for specific items in that bloc
vote, and then there will be plenty of time after the voting
for our members to speak on the various issues.
So we will move at this point to the en bloc passage of the
items other than Aurelia Skipwith, and that will be the roll
call vote in a few seconds. Senators Sullivan and Whitehouse
have revised the text of the substitute amendment to S. 2260 to
reflect necessary modifications. The Ranking Member and I have
agreed that the text of the revised Sullivan-Whitehouse
substitute amendment to S. 2260, which was sent to all offices
yesterday, replaces the text that was circulated with the
notice last Friday.
I would now like to call up Presidential Nomination 887,
Katherine Lemos of California, to be a Member of the Chemical
Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; President Nomination
971, Katherine Lemos, again of California, to be Chairperson of
the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; the revised
Sullivan-Whitehouse Substitute Amendment to S. 2260, the Save
Our Seas 2.0: Improving Domestic Infrastructure to prevent
Marine Debris Act; S. 2099, the White Horse Hill National Game
Preserve Designation Act; and eight General Services
Administration Resolutions en bloc.
So I move to approve and report Presidential Nomination
887, Presidential Nomination 971, and S. 2099, approve the
revised Sullivan-Whitehouse substitute amendment to S. 2260,
and report S. 2260 as amended, and approve eight GSA
Resolutions en bloc. Is there a second?
Senator Carper. Second.
Senator Barrasso. All those in favor, please say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Senator Barrasso. All those opposed, no.
[No audible response.]
Senator Barrasso. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes
have it. We have approved Presidential Nomination 887,
Presidential Nomination 971, S. 2099, S. 2260 as amended, which
will be reported favorably to the Senate. We have also approved
eight GSA Resolutions.
Senator Carper.
Senator Carper. I don't know if this is the appropriate
time. I would like to be recorded no on the Skipwith
nomination. Are we going to do a roll call?
Senator Barrasso. We are going to do a roll call. We are
waiting for one member to arrive, and we will do a roll call,
as you requested. We had agreed to, as we are waiting for the
final member, Senator Cramer, would you like to make any
comments at this point on the White Horse Hill?
Senator Cramer. I would. First of all, thank you, Mr.
Chairman, and thank you, Ranking Member Carper, for not only
bringing this up, but for your support of it.
As the Chairman said, Sullys Hill is a national game
preserve that is located wholly within the Spirit Lake Nation
near Devil's Lake, North Dakota. This bill simply changes the
game preserve's name from Sullys Hill to the English
translation of its traditional Dakota name, White Horse Hill. I
introduced the bill at the request of the tribal leaders, but
it has the full support of the Governor and the State of North
Dakota, and certainly of the tourism industry throughout the
State and the local governments.
I think it is important to note that in 1931, the game
preserve was named after General Alfred Sully. Unfortunately,
Sully gained his recognition and his notoriety as someone who
committed several massacres against Native Americans. The most
notable massacre was on September 3d of 1863, in the Dakota
territory as reprisal for the Dakota conflict of 1862. His
troops destroyed a village of some 500 tipis, killing several
hundred Indians. Many of the victims, descendants of the
victims of that massacre, live on this very reservation where
this hill is named after this general.
So with the issues that our Federal Government faces,
changing the name of this preserve in North Dakota can seem
like a small thing. But I assure you, it is no small thing to
the people of the Spirit Lake Nation.
It has taken us 85 years to correct this mistake. I am
sorry that it has taken so long, but I am grateful that we are
correcting it now, and I hope that I can count on everyone's
support. Thank you.
Senator Barrasso. Well, thank you very much, Senator
Cramer. I know Senator Whitehouse, as well as Senator Sullivan,
would like to comment on their piece of legislation as we are
waiting for Senator Capito. I call on you, Senator Sullivan.
Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
you and the Ranking Member for your work on this. I certainly
want to thank my friend and colleague, Senator Whitehouse, for
his leadership on this issue. This issue is addressing of ocean
pollution and ocean plastics. We had a bill last year that the
President signed called the Save Our Seas Act. This is the Save
Our Seas Act 2.0.
I just want to mention, this committee has a real tradition
of getting big things done, whether it is the Highway Bill or
the TSCA legislation. I am certainly hopeful that this is
another example of really important legislation that we are
going to be able to move here.
The good news on this legislation is this is an
environmental issue that is actually solvable. The estimates
are that 10 rivers in Asia constitute almost 70 percent of all
the ocean plastic pollution in the world, in all the oceans. So
we can actually address this. We are doing it in a bipartisan
manner, and this is a comprehensive bill. It has jurisdiction
in Commerce here, and in the Foreign Relations Committee.
I want to thank the cosponsors of the Save Our Seas 2.0
legislation, who are EPW members, because there many: Senators
Whitehouse, Booker, Carper, Van Hollen, Merkley, Cardin. I want
to encourage all my colleagues to join us because we think this
is going to move the President in support of this, his
administration in support of this.
All the ocean and environmental groups are in support of
this. Industry is in support of this. We have stakeholders who
are going to hopefully make this move and get it done and it
will really have an impact on cleaning up our oceans, which I
think everybody here wants to do, whether you are a State like
mine with a lot of coastline, or you are a State like Indiana
that doesn't have any, but you still care.
Senator Barrasso. Lake Michigan.
Senator Sullivan. Oh, Lake Michigan, sorry.
[Laughter.]
Senator Sullivan. Well, it is not an ocean, last time I
checked, but it is a big body of water. Sorry. Who else?
Senator Rounds--you know what I mean.
[Laughter.]
Senator Sullivan. So hopefully we can get this done soon.
Again, I want to thank the Chairman and Senator Carper, in
particular, on working hard on this, and of course, Senator
Whitehouse. Thank you.
Senator Barrasso. Senator Whitehouse.
Senator Whitehouse. Thank you, Chairman.
Let me join my friend, Dan Sullivan, in thanking both you
and the Ranking Member for helping us work our way through to
this day, where we have passed this bill by unanimous consent,
effectively, by voice vote here in the committee.
Another section of the bill is in the Foreign Relations
Committee for a vote today. We expect it is going to clear
that, as well.
That gives us a lot of momentum to move forward. As Dan has
pointed out, this is a very important issue. I just got back
from the Save the Bay Run ocean cleanup in Rhode Island over
the weekend. We do it with trash bags. Dan's State is on the
Pacific, so they have a different scale to their problem. When
we had our first hearing, his Alaska witnesses talked about
having to clean up the shores with dumpsters and front-end
loaders, and by the ton per mile rather than by the trash bags.
So this is an area where I think we can get a lot of good
work done. There is a very clear focus, there are five Asian
nations that have lousy upland waste management that causes the
majority of this ocean plastic to be dumped into the Pacific.
There are ten rivers around the world, most in Asia, that flow
most of this out to sea.
So we have a lot of enthusiasm from the Administration,
with the President, Secretary Pompeo, Trade Representative
Lighthizer, all having made very strong public statements. So I
think it is important to keep our momentum going, and I hope we
can move quickly to a very positive vote, perhaps even a voice
vote, unanimous consent on the Senate floor to move this along.
We have similar progress in the House, great bipartisanship
in the House as well. So I think this is kind of a happy moment
for the committee to be in strong agreement on strong
environmental legislation that will hit an important problem
for our planet. Thank you.
Let me also thank the former chairman, Senator Inhofe, who
played such an important role in helping us get the original
Save Our Seas Act into unanimous consent on the Senate floor as
well. That is really what helped launch it. I was not expecting
somebody from a square State to be so enthusiastic, and I
appreciate it.
[Laughter.]
Senator Inhofe. It's not a square State?
Senator Barrasso. Wyoming's the square State.
Senator Whitehouse. OK, you two are going to debate about
who's square, OK.
Senator Inhofe. I will share your comments with the people
of the panhandle of Oklahoma.
[Laughter.]
Senator Barrasso. At this happy moment, I would like to
call up the Presidential nomination 964, Aurelia Skipwith of
Indiana to be Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I
move to approve and report the nomination favorably to the
Senate. Is there a second?
Senator Inhofe. Second.
Senator Barrasso. The Clerk will call the roll.
Senator Cardin. Mr. Chairman, before you call the roll, I
will speak for one moment, if I might. I believe we do need a
confirmed leader for this agency.
I am disappointed that the information requested by the
Ranking Member has not been provided. I think the request of
the Ranking Member is extremely reasonable. I hope that that
information will be made available before the nomination is
brought to the floor. For the reasons that the Ranking Member
said, I am not prepared today to support the nominee.
Senator Barrasso. All right. The Clerk will call the roll.
Senator Van Hollen. Mr. Chairman?
Senator Barrasso. Senator Van Hollen.
Senator Van Hollen. Senator Cardin and I have talked about
this. Obviously, we have a strong interest in protecting the
Chesapeake Bay, and all of us have an interest in environmental
issues and fish and wildlife. For the same reasons that Senator
Cardin indicated, I will be voting no here in this committee.
Senator Barrasso. The Clerk will call the roll.
The Clerk. Senator Booker.
Senator Cardin. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Boozman.
Senator Boozman. Yes.
The Clerk. Mr. Braun.
Senator Braun. Yes.
The Clerk. Mrs. Capito.
Senator Capito. Yes.
The Clerk. Mr. Cardin.
Senator Cardin. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Carper.
Senator Carper. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Cramer.
Senator Cramer. Yes.
The Clerk. Ms. Duckworth.
Senator Carper. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Ms. Ernst.
Senator Ernst. Yes.
The Clerk. Mrs. Gillibrand.
Senator Gillibrand. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Inhofe.
Senator Inhofe. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Markey.
Senator Carper. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Merkley.
Senator Merkley. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Rounds.
Senator Rounds. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Sanders.
Senator Carper. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Shelby.
Mr. Shelby. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Sullivan.
Senator Sullivan. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Van Hollen.
Senator Van Hollen. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse.
Senator Carper. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Wicker.
Senator Wicker. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman.
Senator Barrasso. Aye. The Clerk will report.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, the ayes are 11 and the nays are
10.
Senator Barrasso. The ayes are 11, the nays are 10, we have
approved Nomination 964, which will be favorably reported to
the U.S. Senate.
Senator Carper. I have a unanimous consent request. I ask
unanimous consent that we enter into the record a statement
from Golden Gate Salmon Association, opposing Ms. Skipwith's
nomination, as well as other letters and materials.
Senator Barrasso. Without objection.
[The referenced material follows:]
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Senator Barrasso. I have a number of letters of
recommendation, over 80 stakeholders who have signed letters in
support of Ms. Skipwith's nomination to serve as the Director.
I ask unanimous consent to enter these endorsements into the
record as well.
[The referenced information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Barrasso. With that, the voting part of the
business meeting has finished. I appreciate the comments by
Senator Cramer as well as Senator Sullivan and Senator
Whitehouse. Are there any other members who would like to be
recognized?
If not, I ask unanimous consent that the staff have the
authority to make technical and conforming changes to each of
the matters approved today. With that, the business meeting is
concluded.
[Whereupon, at 9:42 a.m., the hearing was concluded.]
[Additional material submitted for the record follows:]
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[all]