[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 18, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S2457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I want to talk about the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission. This is the Federal agency that ensures the 
safety of our Nation's nuclear powerplants.
  Specifically, I want to bring attention to the reappointment of 
Kristine Svinicki--or, rather, the curious lack of action surrounding 
her reappointment.
  Commissioner Svinicki is one of the most respected Commissioners ever 
to serve at the NRC. She is an experienced and fair-minded regulator 
whose leadership has earned her the admiration of Members of Congress 
on both sides of the aisle. She was confirmed for her first term 
without a single dissenting vote.
  Prior to her 4 years on the Commission, Commissioner Svinicki spent 
more than two decades in public service working on nuclear safety 
issues in the Senate, at the Department of Energy, and with the 
Wisconsin Public Utilities Commission. A nuclear engineer, she is one 
of the world's foremost authorities on nuclear safety and nuclear 
power, and a great asset to the Commission.
  Last year Commissioner Svinicki had the courage to stand up and blow 
the whistle on a sitting NRC Chairman, Gregory Jaczko, for bullying 
subordinates.
  According to an Associated Press story from December:

       The commissioners told Congress [that] women at the NRC 
     felt particularly intimidated by Jaczko. Commissioner William 
     Magwood--

  Who is a Democrat, by the way--

     told the oversight panel that Jaczko had bullied and 
     belittled at least three female staff members, one of whom 
     told Magwood she was ``humiliated'' by what Magwood called a 
     raging verbal assault.

  This is the Democratic Commissioner on NRC, and here is an excerpt 
from the inspector general's report:

       ``Several current and former Commission staff members,'' it 
     says, ``said the Chairman's behavior caused an intimidating 
     work environment. A former Chairman told OIG that the 
     Chairman often yelled at people and [that] his tactics had a 
     negative effect on people. He described the behavior as 
     ruling by intimidation.''

  Commissioner Svinicki stood up to this guy, who somehow managed to 
avoid being fired in the wake of all of these revelations, in an effort 
to preserve the integrity of the agency and to protect the career 
staffers who were the subject of the Chairman's tactics. Now, for some 
mysterious reason, she is being held up for renomination.
  The FBI completed its background check on Commissioner Svinicki 15 
months ago. Her ethics agreement was approved around the same time. She 
has been ready to go for more than a year. There is no legitimate 
reason for Commissioner Svinicki not to have been renominated and 
reconfirmed by now. Any further delay is unacceptable.
  If Commissioner Svinicki isn't renominated by June 30, NRC will lose 
one of its finest members, the Commission's work will be impaired, and 
we will be forced to conclude that the reason is related to her 
honorable actions as a whistleblower--that she is being held up in 
retaliation for speaking up against a rogue Chairman who bullies his 
subordinates.
  There is a reason Congress charged five Commissioners with the 
responsibility to protect public health and safety. Ensuring the safety 
of our Nation's nuclear powerplants is serious business. So this 
morning I am calling on the White House to renominate Commissioner 
Svinicki today to ensure that this well-qualified and widely respected 
woman remains in place for another term.
  The public is best served by a commission that is fully functional. 
There should be no question in anyone's mind that it will be fully 
functional. We cannot wait any longer for this nomination.
  I yield the floor.

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