[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 98 (Monday, July 16, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7663-S7665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONFIRMATION OF NOMINEES
Mr. KYL. We started this session of Congress, I think, on a fairly
high note of bipartisanship. While there have been some recent events
that may have detracted from that, I think most of us would like to
proceed with as much bipartisanship as possible. Part of this,
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of course, concerns relationships between the Congress and the
President.
Since the majority in the Senate and the President are of different
parties, that may be a little more difficult, but I have a suggestion
today which I hope will enable us to move in that direction.
The President has a number of nominees, executive branch nominees,
there are a few legislative branch nominees that require our actions,
and then there are some judicial nominees. I hope in a real spirit of
bipartisanship we can get those nominees cleared; that is to say, the
Senate can confirm the President's nominations and the personnel that
he needs in the executive branch to get his work done, and that we can
confirm the judges the courts need. These are people who need to be put
into place so our country can move forward for all of the American
people.
Up until last week, unfortunately, the Senate had been acting at a
relatively slow pace. I might also add the change from the majority to
the minority, and vice verse, undoubtedly complicated this, but we were
not making very good progress.
Last week, I note that 54 nominees were confirmed by the Senate. In
fact, 36 were confirmed just last Thursday. So we are finally beginning
to make some progress. I urge my colleagues to continue this progress
because, by my count, there are 93 executive branch nominees pending as
of today. Only 26 have had hearings. But as we know, it does not take
too much for the committee work to follow shortly after a hearing so
the nominees can actually come to the Senate for full debate and
confirmation by the full Senate.
As of today, according to the administration's figures, approximately
347 nominees have come to the Senate, and only 187 have been confirmed.
So we still have a fair amount of work to do.
In terms of judicial nominees, my understanding is that there are 29
nominations pending, 3 of which have had hearings. Of those, 20 are
circuit court nominees, 9 are district court nominees. The bottom line
with regard to the courts is that as of today, no circuit or district
court judges have been confirmed this year. We are, of course, now past
the midway point of this year.
We are going to have to get going. Again, I do not want to point any
fingers in the spirit of bipartisanship which I am invoking here today.
I am hoping Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and the
administration can work very closely together.
What I would like to do, and I will do at the end of my remarks, is
submit for the Record the names of the nominees who are pending. I was
going to read the names of the people who are currently pending, but I
do not need to do that. I will submit those for the Record. But I would
note some of these have been pending going back to the month of April.
Clearly the Senate can act on those nominees who have been before us
for a long period of time, and we should expedite those who have come
before us, even fairly recently. It should be our goal that by the time
we conclude our work in July and return to our States for the August
recess, that all of the nominees who have come to the Senate, except
maybe in the last couple of days before that period of time, will have
been cleared; that is to say, they will have had their hearings, come
out of committee, and been acted upon by the full Senate. Very few of
them are controversial, as I go down the list.
I do note in a couple of cases nominees are being held up by
Senators--actually in four or five cases. A couple of those are being
held up by Republicans, and a few more are being held up by Democrats.
I am going to urge my Republican colleagues to cooperate so the
concerns they have expressed can be dealt with and the nominees can
move forward. I hope my Democratic colleagues will do the same on their
side of the aisle. I think it is important that while a Member of the
Senate may put a technical hold on a nomination, we all appreciate all
that means is that they have requested to be notified if the majority
leader is going to call that nominee up for a full Senate consideration
so that Senator will then have an opportunity to object. Obviously, we
do not want to put Members in that position, but I do think it is
important for the full Senate to be able to work its will on these
nominees. That is why I am going to ask both Republicans and Democrats,
where they have a problem with somebody, to try to work that out with
the administration so we can proceed.
Finally, last week I worked with the distinguished majority leader
and the assistant majority leader in ensuring we could both bring the
appropriations bills that we have to deal with to the Senate floor and
to get these nominees done at the same time. There is nothing to
prevent us from bringing an appropriations bill to the floor and then
toward the end of the day, for those nominees that do not require
debate and rollcall vote, having them considered in the wrap-up.
I will continue to do that because it is my expectation that we will
not have to use the rules of parliamentary procedure that we all have
available to us to hold up business of the Senate in order to get these
nominees done since they are the top priority; that we can actually do
both at the same time.
That is my request of the majority leader and of the assistant
majority leader--to continue to work in that spirit moving forward both
with the appropriations bill and with the nominees. I will have more to
say about this later.
I ask unanimous consent that the names of the nominees who are
currently pending be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Bush Administration Nominees Pending Senate Action
Agriculture
Thomas C. Dorr, Undersecretary for Rural Development.
Hilda Gay Legg, Administrator, Rural Utilities Services.
Mark Edward Rey, Undersecretary for Natural Resources and
Environment.
Commerce
Samuel W. Bodman, Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
David Sampson, Assistant Secretary for Economic
Development.
Michael J. Garcia, Assistant Secretary for Export
Enforcement.
William Henry Lash III, Assistant Secretary for Market
Access and Compliance.
James Edward Rogan, Undersecretary for Intellectual
Property and Director of the United States Patent and
Trademark Office.
Defense
Jack Dyer Crouch II, Assistant Secretary for International
Security.
Stephen A. Cambone, Principal Deputy Undersecretary for
Policy.
Susan Morrisey Linvingstone, Undersecretary of the Navy.
Alberto Jose Mora, General Counsel, Navy.
Michael Parker, Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, Army.
John Stenbit, Assistant Secretary for Command, Control,
Communications & Intelligence.
Ronald M. Sega, Director, Defense Research and Engineering.
Joseph E. Schmitz, Inspector General.
Michael L. Dominguez, Assistant Secretary (Air Force) for
Manpower, Reserve Affairs.
Nelson F. Gibbs, Assistant Secretary (Air Force) for
Installations & Environment.
H.T. Johnson, Assistant Secretary (Navy) for Installations
& Environment.
Mario P. Fiori, Assistant Secretary (Army) for
Installations & Environment.
Education
Carol D'Amico, Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult
Education.
Brian Jones, General Counsel.
Laurie Rich, Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and
Interagency Affairs.
Robert Pasternack, Assistant Secretary for Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services.
Joanne M. Wilson, Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services
Administration.
Energy
Dan R. Brouillette, Assistant Secretary for Congressional
and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Theresa Alvillar-Speake, Director, of Minority Economic
Impact.
health and human services
Wade F. Horn, Assistant Secretary for Family Support.
Kevin Keane, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
Janet Hale, Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget.
Alex Azar, III, General Counsel.
Janet Rehnquist, Inspector General.
Josefina Carbonell,Assistant Secretary for Aging.
Joan E. Ohl, Commissioner, Administration for Children,
Youth and Families.
housing and urban development
Michael Minoru Fawn Liu, Assistant Secretary for Public and
Indian Housing.
Melody H. Fennel, Assistant Secretary for Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs.
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Justice
Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights.
Deborah J. Daniels, Assistant Attorney General for the
Office of Justice.
Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for
Environment & Natural Resources.
Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for the
Civil Division.
Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General for Tax
Division.
Sarah V. Hart, Director, National Institute of Justice.
Richard R. Nedelkoff, Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance.
J. Robert Flores, Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention.
James W. Ziglar, Commissioner, Immigration and
Naturalization Service.
John W. Gillis, Director, Office for Victims of Crime.
Asa Hutchinson, Administrator, Drug Enforcement Agency.
Sharee M. Freeman, Director, Community Relations Service.
Mauricio J. Tamargo, Chairman, Foreign Claims Settlement
Commission.
labor
Eugene Scalia, Solicitor of Labor.
John Lester Henshaw, Assistant Secretary, Occupational
Safety and Health.
Emily Stover DeRocco, Assistant Secretary for Employment
Training Administration.
state
John D. Negroponte, Representative to the United Nations.
Otto J. Reich, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere
Affairs.
Charlotte L. Beers, Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy.
Clark Kevin Ervin, Inspector General.
Dennis L. Schornack, Commissioner, International Joint
Commission.
William A. Eaton, Assistant Secretary for Administration.
Transportation
Allan Rutter, Administrator, Federal Railroad
Administration.
Kirk Van Tine, General Counsel.
Ellen G. Engleman, Administrator, Research and Special
Programs.
Jeffrey William Runge, Administrator, National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration.
Treasury
Michele Davis, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
Kenneth Dam, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
Peter R. Fisher, Undersecretary for Domestic Finance.
Jimmy Gurule, Undersecretary for Enforcement.
Rosario Marin, Treasurer of the United States.
Brian Carlton Roseboro, Assistant for Financial Markets.
Henrietta Holsman Fore, Director, U.S. Mint.
Robert C. Bonner, Commissioner of Customs.
Sheila C. Bair, Assistant Secretary for Financial
Institutions.
Veterans Affairs
Gordon H. Mansfield, Assistant Secretary for Congressional
Affairs.
Claude Kickligher, Assistant Secretary for Policy and
Planning.
Executive Branch
John D. Graham, Administrator of the Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs.
Jon M. Huntsman, Deputy USTR.
Mark B. McClellan, Member, Council of Economic Advisors.
Allen Frederick Johnson, Chief Agricultural Negotiator,
USTR.
John Walters, Director, Office of Drug Control Policy.
Agencies
Robert E. Fabricant, General Counsel, EPA.
Hector Baretto, Administrator, Small Business
Administration.
Roger Walton Ferguson, Governor, Federal Reserve System.
Jeffrey R. Holmstead, Assistant Administrator for Air and
Radiation, EPA.
George Tracey Megan, III, Assistant Administrator for
Water, EPA.
Eduardo Aguirre, Jr., First Vice President & Vice Chair,
Export-Import Administration.
Cari Dominguez, Chairwoman, Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.
Harvey L. Pitt, Chairman, Securities and Exchange
Commission.
Ross J. Connelly, Executive Vice President, OPIC.
Carole L. Brookins, US Executive Director of the
International Bank for Reconstruction.
Judith Elizabeth Ayres, Assistant Administrator for
International Activities.
Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, GSA.
Marion Blakey, Chairman, National Transportation Safety
Board.
John Arthur Hammerschmidt, Member, National Transportation
Safety Board.
Donald Schregardus, Assistant Administrator for
Enforcement.
Judiciary
John G. Roberts, Jr., U.S. Circuit Court, District of
Columbia.
Miguel A. Estrada, U.S. Circuit Court, District of
Columbia.
Edith Brown Clement, U.S. Circuit Court, Fifth Circuit.
Priscilla Richman Owen, U.S. Circuit Court, Fifth Circuit.
Dennis W. Shedd, U.S. Circuit Court, Fourth Circuit.
Roger L. Gregory, U.S. Circuit Court, Fourth Circuit.
Terrence W. Boyle, U.S. Circuit Court, Fourth Circuit.
Barrington D. Parker, U.S. Circuit Court, Second Circuit.
Deborah L. Cook, U.S. Circuit Court, Sixth Circuit.
Jeffrey S. Sutton, U.S. Circuit Court, Sixth Circuit.
Michael E. McConnell, U.S. Circuit Court, Tenth Circuit.
Sharon Prost, U.S. Circuit Court, Federal Circuit.
Lavenski R. Smith, U.S. Circuit Court, Eighth Circuit.
William J. Riley, U.S. Circuit Court, Eighth Circuit.
Charles W. Pickering, Sr., U.S. Circuit Court, Fifth
Circuit.
Timothy M. Tymkovich, U.S. Circuit Court, Tenth Circuit.
Harris L. Hartz, U.S. Circuit Court, Tenth Circuit.
Carolyn B. Kuhl, U.S. Circuit Court, Ninth Circuit.
Richard R. Clifton, U.S. Circuit Court, Ninth Circuit.
Michael J. Melloy, U.S. Circuit Court, Eighth Circuit.
Richard F. Cebull, U.S. District Court, District of
Montana.
Sam E. Haddon, U.S. District Court, District of Montana.
Terry L. Wooten, U.S. District Court, District of South
Carolina.
Laurie Smith Camp, U.S. District Court, District of
Nebraska.
Paul G. Cassell, U.S. District Court, District of Utah.
John D. Bates, U.S. District Court, District of the
District of Columbia.
Reggie B. Walton, U.S. District Court, District of the
District of Columbia.
Michael P. Mills, U.S. District Court, Northern District of
Mississippi.
James E. Gritzner, U.S. District Court, Southern District
of Iowa.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I will continue to work with the majority and
minority leaders to ensure that we can consider these nominees.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington is recognized.
Ms. CANTWELL. Thank you, Mr. President.
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