[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 120 (Friday, September 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9430-S9431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




NOMINATION OF BRUCE COLE, OF INDIANA, TO BE CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL 
                      ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

                                 ______
                                 

  NOMINATION OF JOHN W. GILLIS, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE 
                       OFFICE OF VICTIMS OF CRIME

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of the nomination of 
Bruce Cole to be the Chairperson of the National Endowment for the 
Humanities and that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from the 
consideration of the nomination of John W. Gillis to be Director of the 
Office of Victims of Crime; that the nominations be considered and 
confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, the 
President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and any 
statements therein be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nominations considered and confirmed are as follows:


                 national endowment for the humanities

       Bruce Cole, of Indiana, to be Chairperson of the National 
     Endowment for the Humanities for a term of four years.


                               judiciary

       John W. Gillis, of California, to be Director of the Office 
     of Victims of Crime.


                       NOMINATION OF JOHN GILLIS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, yesterday the Judiciary Committee conducted 
confirmation hearings that included the President's nomination of John 
Gillis to direct the Office for Victims of Crime at the Department of 
Justice. These hearings had been scheduled long before the tragic 
events of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. This was the first hearing of 
the committee since the terrorism Tuesday morning that prompted the 
postponement of hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday.
  Mr. Gillis had come from California before air traffic was suspended 
on Tuesday. Also included in the hearing were judicial nominees from 
New York-Connecticut and Mississippi who were able to drive to 
Washington in order to participate in the hearing. I thank Senator 
McConnell for serving as the Ranking Republican.
  Mr. Gillis described his background in law enforcement as a police 
officer with the Los Angeles Police Department and his work with the 
New York Port Authority. We also heard first hand of the tragic loss of 
his daughter and of his work on behalf of homicide victims and other 
victims of crime.
  We discussed the outstanding staff of the Office for Victims of 
Crime, the important work in which they are engaged, and the incredible 
challenges that Mr. Gillis and that office will face.
  I have worked closely with Mr. Gillis' predecessor in the Office for 
Victims of Crime for several years. With Aileen Adams, I worked on 
victims legislation to assist in our response to the bombing of the 
Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in April of 1995. Indeed, I 
sponsored the Victims of Terrorism Act amendment when the Senate 
considered anti-terrorism legislation in June 1995 and I continued 
working to ensure that legislation remained part of the Anti-Terrorism 
and Effective Death Penalty Act, which was finally enacted on April 24, 
1996.
  Thereafter, we worked on special appropriations to assist the victims 
of

[[Page S9431]]

the Oklahoma bombing and special legislation to ensure their rights in 
connection with the trial. Last year, working with Katherine Turman, we 
were able to enact improvements to our 1995 legislation for victims of 
terrorism in order to double the cap on the Victims of Crime Act 
emergency reserve fund to $100 million and provide greater flexibility 
to the Office for Victims of Crime to use the emergency reserve in 
carrying out programs that assist victims of terrorism and mass 
violence.
  In addition, over the years I have worked with Senator Specter and 
others on a series of legislative actions to provide financial and 
educational benefits to federal and state public safety officers killed 
or injured in the line of duty, including educational benefits for 
their dependents.
  We will be reviewing all of these provisions in the days and weeks 
ahead in the wake of the devastation of Tuesday.

  Although nominees to head the Office for Victims of Crime 
traditionally have not always participated in a confirmation hearing, I 
wanted to include Mr. Gillis at a Senate hearing to highlight the 
importance of the work of this Office, the critical importance of crime 
victims' rights, and the assistance and compensation provided by the 
Federal Government.
  Along with other Senators strongly committed to assisting crime 
victims and protecting their rights, I reintroduced the Crime Victims 
Assistance Act of 2001 in April of this year. In preparing our bill, we 
consulted closely with a number of victims organizations and with the 
Office for Victims of Crime. That legislation, which enhances the 
rights and protections of victims of crime, establishes innovative new 
programs to help promote compliance with State victim rights laws and 
improves the manner in which the Crime Victims Fund is managed and 
preserved, is an important matter and a high priority for me. I was 
heartened when Mr. Gillis pledged to work with us on this initiative.
  Toward the end of yesterday's hearing, I suggested that I would try 
to clear the nomination of John Gillis to be Director of the Office for 
Victims of Crime on an extraordinary and expedited basis. I noted that 
Attorney General Ashcroft had, on the eve of the nomination hearing, 
called me at home in support of this nomination. Yesterday I requested 
that the Majority Leader proceed to the nomination and that the Senate 
confirm John Gillis. I thank the Majority Leader for taking action and 
I want to thank all Democratic Members of the Senate and my colleague 
from Vermont for approving that request. In these difficult days, 
confirming Mr. Gillis to head the Office for Victims of Crime so that 
he may lend his hand to the efforts of those working so diligently in 
that Office and in State and local government and private efforts in 
New York, Virginia and around the country, is a small but significant 
step that the Senate can and should take.
  I am gratified that overnight whatever problem or concern had 
threatened to delay Senate action on this nomination has been resolved. 
I thank all Senators for their willingness to move forward under these 
extraordinary circumstances to confirm John Gillis to be Director of 
the Office for Victims of Crime. In particular, I thank the senior 
Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Nickles) for his effort to clear this 
nomination for expedited Senate action today. His personal intervention 
helped make this possible. I have had the privilege of working over the 
years with Senator Nickles on victims legislation. He has shown again 
today his commitment to the interests of victims of crime and 
terrorism.

                          ____________________