[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S921-S923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



          Congratulating Dr. Frank Cleckley on His Retirement

  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Dr. Franklin D. 
Cleckley, one of the true giants of the legal system of West Virginia. 
I do so because Frank is getting ready to retire after nearly half a 
century of service to our great State--as a lawyer, as a professor, as 
a judge, and as an unwavering champion of justice. I wish to 
congratulate him for the extraordinary job he has done and to thank him 
for his countless contributions to the betterment of West Virginia.
  Dr. Cleckley's stellar and pioneering legal career began in 1965 when 
he earned his law degree from Indiana University. It will end next week 
at West Virginia University with a retirement ceremony that so many of 
his family, friends, and colleagues will be attending to celebrate this 
great man. I only wish I could be there because I have valued and 
appreciated his friendship for so many years.
  Frank Cleckley joined the faculty at West Virginia University College 
of Law in 1969, after serving as a lawyer in the U.S. Navy Judge 
Advocate General's Corps at the height of the Vietnam war. Not only was 
he the first African American on the staff at the West Virginia 
University College of Law, he was also the first full-time African-
American professor in the history of West Virginia University.
  As a law professor at West Virginia University, Frank literally wrote 
the book on practicing law in West Virginia. He authored two you will 
find in every courtroom and every lawyer's office in West Virginia--the 
``Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers,'' and the ``Handbook 
on West Virginia Criminal Procedure.'' These two books are continually 
updated and are, in the words of the West Virginia Supreme Court, the 
bible for West Virginia's judges and attorneys.
  Of course, for the generations of West Virginia law students who have 
passed through Dr. Cleckley's classroom, the fact that he wrote those 
two books is a source of great amusement for them, whenever they hear 
him quoting himself in his lectures. ``As it says in `Cleckley,' '' 
Professor Cleckley would say with a smile.
  Also, as a member of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the 
first African-American justice in our State, Frank Cleckley would pay 
special attention when lawyers stumbled over evidence in their 
arguments. And on more than one occasion, Justice Cleckley would 
quietly quip to one of his colleagues: There's one lawyer who didn't 
take my evidence class.

  Frank Cleckley grew up in Huntington, WV, the youngest of 11 
children. At one point, his ambition was to play pro football. But 
after working for former Indiana Congressman J. Edward Roush in the 
1960s, he found his true calling--to be a lawyer and champion of civil 
rights.
  Throughout his legal career, he has been an exceptional trial lawyer, 
not only in antidiscrimination lawsuits, but also in representing 
clients who couldn't pay him. In fact, he came to be known as the 
``poor man's Perry

[[Page S922]]

Mason.'' He has been a one-man legal aid society.
  He also was instrumental in reviving the Mountain State Bar 
Association, the oldest minority bar in the United States. In 1990, he 
established the Franklin D. Cleckley Foundation to help former 
prisoners with education and employment opportunities. Two years later, 
he set up another organization to bring civil rights leaders to the 
West Virginia University as lecturers.
  Last fall, as he reflected on his long legal career, Frank said that 
when he was a kid in Huntington, he wanted to do something with his 
life that was meaningful and important in West Virginia. Well, he did. 
But it turns out it wasn't the NFL, as he once thought. It was WVU. 
Frank Cleckley is a true Mountaineer. He helped West Virginia 
University become the nationally respected institution it is today.
  The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that the arc of the 
moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. And, in my view, 
one of the reasons it bends toward justice is there are people such as 
Frank Cleckley bending it with their honesty, their integrity, and 
their commitment to what is right.
  It fills me with great pride to stand here today and tell the Senate 
about the accomplishments of Prof. Frank Cleckley and his service to 
West Virginia. He is a great lawyer, he is a great man, and a great 
West Virginian, and Gayle and I join his family and friends in 
celebrating his long and distinguished pursuit of justice.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, shortly, I hope, we will be voting on the 
confirmation of Jack Lew to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, and 
I urge my colleagues to support that nomination. He is the right person 
at the right time to be Secretary of the Treasury. He has devoted his 
entire life to public service. I thank him for that, and I thank him 
for his willingness to continue to serve his Nation. He has a great 
record of accomplishment.
  I have known Jack Lew for 26 years. I have served with him on common 
issues, and I want to bring to the attention of my colleagues some of 
the things he has done. He first served in the House of Representatives 
as a staff person for Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. In that 
capacity, one of the responsibilities he had was to be the liaison to 
the commission that was working on Social Security reform when 
President Reagan was President of the United States. I mention that 
because I think we all point to that time when a Democratic-controlled 
Congress and a Republican administration were able to deal with one of 
the most difficult challenges of the time, the solvency of Social 
Security, and they were able to come together with a bipartisan 
product. Jack Lew's fingerprints were involved in that transaction. He 
was able to bring us together. We need that type of person as Secretary 
of the Treasury today, a person who will bring together our Nation with 
the type of fiscal policy that Democrats and Republicans can rally 
behind as we look for a solution to our fiscal issues.
  He was President Clinton's OMB Director, and during that time we 
balanced the Federal budget. We were able to do something that has only 
been done once in my lifetime; that is, we actually balanced the 
Federal budget. Jack Lew was the architect of bringing us together to 
balance the Federal budget. We need that type of leadership in the 
Treasury today--a person who understands fiscal responsibility and 
understands how to do it in a way where you can create job growth. 
During those years, let me remind us, we created millions of jobs.
  He then returned to public service as the OMB Director for President 
Obama and as Chief of Staff. He has the experience we need to be 
Secretary of the Treasury, and he has the political know-how to bring 
us together--Democrats, Republicans, Americans--to do what is right for 
this country.
  I am proud he is willing to step forward. I urge my colleagues to 
support his nomination. He is the right person at the right time to 
lead our Nation on fiscal policy.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 10 
minutes remaining for debate, equally divided in the usual form, on the 
Lew nomination; that following the use or yielding back of time, the 
Senate proceed to vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, earlier today I spoke in support of Jack 
Lew's nomination to be the next Treasury Secretary. Over the last 6 
hours or so some have come to the Senate floor to question Mr. Lew's 
character, claiming he has not been forthcoming throughout his 
confirmation.
  Let me remind my colleagues that Mr. Lew participated in one of the 
most thorough reviews of any candidate for this position: a process 
that included hours of interviews and the examination of 6 years of tax 
records and more than 700 questions for the Record. In comparison, the 
committee asked Secretary Geithner only 289 questions--only; Secretary 
Paulson 81; and Secretary Snowe 75 questions. Remember, Jack Lew was 
asked over 700 questions.
  Throughout the confirmation process, Mr. Lew has been nothing but 
open and transparent. I believe he has gained the trust and confidence 
of many in this Chamber. In fact, 19 of 24 Senators on the Senate 
Finance Committee yesterday voted on a bipartisan basis in favor of 
Jack Lew's nomination.
  Many recognize that Mr. Lew is well qualified to be the Nation's next 
Treasury Secretary. He has demonstrated time and again that he has the 
knowledge and policy expertise to help get the Nation's economy back on 
track. He is a very smart man and a very dedicated, total public 
servant.
  If confirmed by the Senate today, Mr. Lew has said he is eager to 
work with all of us here in the Congress to strengthen the American 
economy and create more jobs. That is the key, work together to create 
more jobs. The only way we could get past these constant budget battles 
is by working together, Republicans and Democrats, in the House and the 
Senate, and we need to work with Mr. Lew and the administration to 
craft policies that create more jobs and spark economic growth.
  If confirmed, we will be entrusting Mr. Lew with the authority to 
oversee America's financial system and economic policy. It is a great 
responsibility, one which I believe Mr. Lew will live up to. I think he 
has what it takes.
  The Treasury Secretary is obviously the top economic adviser to the 
President. He works for the President and he works for the country. So 
the second role of the Treasury Secretary is to speak to the Nation 
about our Nation's finances. It is a dual role. He is working for the 
President and he is also working for all of us, the people of the 
United States of America. It is a very prestigious, very important 
position. When he speaks, he is speaking for America on financial 
matters and also on economic matters. It is a separate role that all 
Treasury Secretaries perform, the good ones, and I think Jack Lew is 
going to be a very good one.
  I ask my colleagues to confirm Mr. Lew today as the Nation's next 
Treasury Secretary so he can get to work and help strengthen the 
economy.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I will wrap up here with a few thoughts 
before we vote. I spent a good deal of time today delineating a series 
of serious, deep problems with this nomination, why I truly believe he 
should not be confirmed. I suppose maybe there are votes to confirm 
him. We will see as that goes forward. I do not see any need to delay 
any further, but it is time for the American people and the Members of 
this Senate to consider where we are with this nomination.
  On February 13 of 2011, a day before the President submitted the 
budget, the budget Jack Lew wrote, he went on CNN and other TV stations 
and said these words, words that will live in infamy if we care 
anything in this body about respectful treatment from the executive 
branch, if we have any commitment to the plain truth. He said:

       Our budget will get us, over the next several years, to the 
     point where we can look the American people in the eye and 
     say we're not adding to the debt anymore; we're spending 
     money that we have each year, and then we can work on 
     bringing down our national debt.


[[Page S923]]


  How unbelievable a statement could that be, since his own numbers--
not somebody else's, his own numbers when he submitted the budget on 
Monday, the next day--showed that the lowest single deficit in any one 
of the 10 years was $600 billion. He would have added $13 trillion to 
the gross debt of the United States over 10 years and the numbers, the 
deficits were going up in the last 5 years--a totally unsustainable 
course.
  Erskine Bowles, the head of the fiscal commission, was in shock, I 
think, when he saw this. He was appointed by President Obama to head 
the commission. He said this will take them nowhere near where they 
have to go to avoid the Nation's fiscal nightmare--nowhere near. And he 
was absolutely right about that.
  Then he also said, on CNN on a different day, another interview, the 
budget ``takes real actions now so that between now and 5 years from 
now, we can get our deficit under control so that we can stabilize 
things so we're not adding to the debt anymore.''
  It had never come close to that. It is a horrible thing. He said 
this. I asked him about it before the committee. I read that very quote 
to him before the committee 3 days later and this is what he said. I 
asked him, is it an accurate statement, this statement right here? And 
he said:

       It's an accurate statement that our current spending will 
     not be increasing the debt. . . .

  He went on to add:

       We've stopped spending money that we don't have.

  First of all, this Senate, this Congress, should defend the integrity 
of our process. We should not have high government officials come 
before our committees and before the American people and misrepresent 
in such a dramatic way the financial condition of our country. I called 
it then and I repeat now that this, I believe, was the greatest 
financial misrepresentation in the history of this Republic. If anybody 
has one that is bigger, let me hear it, but I don't think they will. I 
said that earlier today. You tell me--$13 trillion added to the debt 
and they say we are not going to be adding to the debt anymore.
  The budget was a terrible budget. It was a terrible budget. Editorial 
board after editorial board--the Washington Post, the Los Angeles 
Times, the Denver Post, the Dallas Morning News--there must have been 
40 editorial boards that hammered this budget for failing to lead--the 
Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Investor's Business Daily--they 
all hammered this budget because this was early in 2011, after the 2010 
elections, after the shellacking of the big spenders, and there was a 
hope somehow that we would be able then to get the administration to 
come around and change some things. But they stayed right with their 
big spending policies. They stayed right with it and they decided not 
to tell the truth, that we are not backing down, we are going to 
continue to spend, we are not going to cut spending. They would not say 
that. This is what they said. Whereas their budget did just the 
opposite.
  I feel strongly about this. This is not right. We in Congress should 
not have this kind of misrepresentation before us and we should not 
reward people who participate in such misrepresentation. He is the 
architect of the administration's calculated plan to misrepresent the 
budget, to not have a budget in the Senate, to not expose themselves 
any more than possible, to attack Republicans such as Paul Ryan in the 
House, who actually laid out a plan that would change the debt course 
of America. That is what the plan was, and Mr. Lew was the architect of 
it and he executed it. Boy, what was it like, do you think, for him to 
be in the Senate, in the White House, and have to be told or asked: 
Would you go out and say this?
  Mr. Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury--I ask consent to have 1 
additional minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Geithner--and this is important, colleagues--
Treasury Secretary Geithner came before the committee. He would not 
repeat these words. I questioned him. Of course he tried to avoid it 
but eventually when asked directly he honestly said: Senator, this 
budget will not put us on a sustainable path, exactly opposite of what 
Mr. Lew was saying.
  I ask my colleagues to consider this. I ask them not to award the 
person who participated in so calculated a plan to misrepresent the 
financial condition of America and cause the American people to believe 
we had some sort of time that had the country on a sound path when we 
remain to this day on an unsustainable path that endangers working 
Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I yield back all remaining time. I ask for 
the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be. There is a sufficient second.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Jacob J. Lew, of New York, to be Secretary of the Treasury.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Begich), the 
Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Lautenberg), and the Senator from Colorado 
(Mr. Udall) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 71, nays 26, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 25 Ex.]

                                YEAS--71

     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Baucus
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Cowan
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Flake
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (NM)
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--26

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Boozman
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Enzi
     Fischer
     Grassley
     Heller
     Inhofe
     Johnson (WI)
     Lee
     McConnell
     Moran
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Scott
     Sessions
     Vitter
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Begich
     Lautenberg
     Udall (CO)
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.
  The President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________