[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, earlier today, during the Negroponte debate, 
a number of my friends from the other side of the aisle expressed 
concern that some ambassadors were pending on the Executive Calendar. I 
think concern is a very light word. I think we could use words such as 
they expressed outrage--concern. I wish to comment on this because I 
think it was misguided. Perhaps they didn't have the right information.
  One of the most unfortunate charges I heard was that the Democrats 
have ensured that there were vacancies in U.S. Embassies in countries 
representing 700 million people.
  Another unfortunate charge was that we were hamstringing the war on 
terrorism by not having confirmed ambassadors that the Foreign 
Relations Committee just found time to report out last week.
  Again, we were criticized because we were hamstringing the war on 
terrorism because, after action taken by the committee last week, we 
didn't do floor action within the next few days. I think anyone who 
understands Senate procedure knows acting on work of a committee within 
a very short period of time doesn't happen very often. What I mean by 
that is a matter of weeks.
  I hope if these Senators think these people were needed so urgently, 
the Foreign Relations Committee should have moved a little faster--or a 
lot faster.
  But this really is not the issue, because all my colleagues know the 
record does not support these accusations--and that is what they are. 
Later tonight we will confirm 20 ambassadors. We have already voted for 
Ambassador Negroponte. His nomination was completed with nearly record 
speed, given he was only nominated by President Bush last week.
  As to the charge the Democrats have kept several American Embassies 
vacant, we have been told there are 10 embassies the State Department 
has said are currently vacant. Of these 10, the President has chosen to 
fill only 5 of them. Out of 10, half of those the President has not 
sent names.

  Tonight, we will confirm ambassadors to fill Nigeria and Serbia. The 
only reason we have Serbia tonight is last week Republicans objected to 
confirming this qualified Foreign Service officer. We also wanted to 
confirm the new Ambassador to Nepal tonight, but there was an 
objection, I am told, by our Republican friends that would prevent the 
Senate from ensuring that this very qualified career Foreign Service 
officer will not be confirmed. The remaining two vacancies, Sweden and 
Finland, need to be filled, of course. These are going to be political 
appointees because they did not fill out the term they committed to 
serve.
  The facts that were propounded by my friends on the other side of the 
aisle about ambassadors not being appointed simply is without any basis 
of fact. We will confirm two tonight. We have 10 that are unfilled. The 
President has not even sent five of the names to us. I repeat: Two of 
them we are going to fill tonight. We have five vacancies. A third we 
will fill tonight, we would not have needed to do that but for an 
objection by the Republicans last week over that very qualified person. 
Then, of course, I indicated the person to go to Nepal is being 
objected to by the Republicans also.
  We have two vacancies, then: Sweden and Finland. The reason those are 
vacant is because they were political appointees and the people decided 
they wanted to come home early.
  We are doing the very best we can. There are a lot of places that 
people could place blame, but certainly not in the case of appointment 
of ambassadors because the facts do not support the allegations that we 
have been slowing up the ambassadors.
  I am happy to see the two managers of the bill in the Senate. We are 
cautiously optimistic we will be able to complete in the near future 
the very important FSC bill, the JOBS bill. While the two Senators are 
in the Senate, I say publicly how much I appreciate their work on this 
piece of legislation. This committee they are responsible for running, 
the Finance Committee, is as important if not more important than any 
other committee in the Congress. They work well together. This is a 
very complicated bill. There have been a lot of political sideshows 
that have gone on during the pendency of this legislation, as happens 
in all complex bills. We might get lucky later tonight and work out an 
arrangement to complete this bill in the near future, probably early 
next week.
  Again, I express my appreciation to the two Senators. They are both 
experienced. Both come from relatively sparsely populated States, like 
the State of Nevada. The Founding Fathers set up the Constitution so 
that the Senate was not determined by how many people are in a State 
but, rather, that it is a State. There is no better example of what the 
Founding Fathers had in mind than these two fine men who run this most 
important committee. I express my appreciation for the good work they 
do and have done on this bill.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chambliss). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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