[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 84 (Thursday, June 13, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4472-S4473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        B. TODD JONES NOMINATION

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee 
held a hearing on the nomination of B. Todd Jones to serve as the 
director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 
ATF. I thank Senator Klobuchar for the exceptional job she did in 
chairing this hearing and setting the record straight with respect to 
distortions of the nominee's record.
  Todd Jones continues to serve this country honorably. He volunteered 
for the U.S. Marine Corps in 1983, serving on active duty as a judge 
advocate and infantry officer until 1989. In 1991, he was recalled to 
Active Duty to command the 4th Marine Division's Military Police 
Company in Iraq. He also served as commanding officer of the Twin 
Cities Marine Reserve Unit. He has twice been considered for the 
important law enforcement position of U.S. attorney and twice 
unanimously reported out of the Judiciary Committee and unanimously 
confirmed by the Senate. In 1998 he was first appointed to be the U.S. 
attorney for the District of Minnesota and became the first African 
American U.S. attorney in Minnesota's history. In 2009, when that 
office was at a low point and needed a strong hand to lead it back, he 
answered the call, again.
  When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives needed 
new leadership after its poorly conceived and executed Fast and Furious 
operation, the President called upon him, again. He was called upon to 
clear up the mess and deserves our thanks for having made great 
progress in doing so. He has done so while all the while continuing to 
serve as the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota and has had to 
restore leadership and effectiveness in two important law enforcement 
agencies.
  We have received numerous letters of support for Todd Jones' 
nomination from law enforcement, respected legal professionals, and 
veterans of the U.S. Marine Corps. He has critics; he has taken on 
difficult assignments. As he noted at his hearing, sometimes you have 
to take action to make a change and change is not always something that 
everyone is going to favor. A fair evaluation of what he has 
accomplished leads me to support his nomination to be confirmed as the 
director of ATF.
  The ATF has been without a permanent director since that position was 
made a confirmable position in 2006. We lean heavily on the expertise 
of the ATF. For example, under the leadership of Todd Jones, since 
September 2011, ATF has been called on to analyze the bombs left near 
the finish line at the Boston Marathon, to sift through burned debris 
at the chemical plant explosion in West, TX, and to trace the weapons 
used in the Newtown and Aurora mass killings. Agents of the ATF have 
played a major role in investigating some of our Nation's worst 
tragedies. The agency needs a confirmed head. Todd Jones is the ATF's 
fifth acting director since 2006. The Senate should be doing everything 
it can to ensure that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and 
Explosives has the tools it needs to keep Americans safe, and that 
starts with a Senate-confirmed director.
  I had accommodated the ranking member on requests for further 
information and delay on this nomination for months. Senator Grassley 
insisted on the production of documents from the Department of Justice 
that his staff had already had access to for months. He insisted that 
his staff be able to interview Todd Jones in his capacity as U.S. 
Attorney for the District of Minnesota, as well as two other Justice 
Department officials, in order to try to build a case against another 
nomination, that of Tom Perez to be Labor Secretary. Those interviews 
have taken place. Senator Grassley requested additional background 
information from the administration not usually required by the 
committee for an executive nomination and he received that information. 
When he sought information about an ATF operation in Milwaukee, I 
arranged a bipartisan briefing for our staffs from the agency.
  Some are criticizing the nominee based on a complaint filed against 
him by an AUSA from the earlier Bush-era U.S. attorney office. After 
learning about the complaint, I had initially put on hold a planned 
hearing on this nomination. In late April, a news article reported that 
``an aide to Senator Grassley'' had released a letter from OSC that the 
ranking member and I had received about the existence of that 
preliminary inquiry. It was at that time that I determined that this 
hearing should move forward to allow the nominee an opportunity to 
defend his reputation. When a private complaint against him was 
disclosed publicly, I thought it unfair that the nominee could not 
respond. He did at his hearing and in my view that matter is put to 
rest.
  The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, OSC, closed the file on the 
underlying allegation made against the nominee of ``gross mismanagement 
and abuses of authority.'' The allegation involving alleged retaliation 
has been referred to mediation. In deference to the complaining party 
and the request of the

[[Page S4473]]

investigating agency that the complaint not be made public, it has not 
been. I wish it were. It is not substantial or even substantially about 
Todd Jones. It is certainly not reason to oppose the confirmation.
  The ranking member requested that the long-delayed June 4 
confirmation hearing on the nomination to head ATF be postponed 
further, and I postponed it another week. During that postponement, 
over that last weekend, the ranking member threatened to use Senate 
rules for the minority to call an outside witness to testify at the 
hearing. There is no precedent for outside witnesses at a Judiciary 
Committee hearing for a subcabinet executive level position. I 
nonetheless sought to accommodate his last-minute demand by agreeing to 
his calling a witness.
  The hearing proceeded on Tuesday and should have cleared the air. For 
instance, those opposing this nomination were unaware that Todd Jones 
had terminated a supervisor of the Fast and Furious operation.
  The Judiciary Committee had for decades followed a tradition and 
practice of examining allegations against nominees in a bipartisan 
manner from the outset. That has not been the practice Republicans have 
followed during the last several years. They have, instead, not brought 
matters to the bipartisan staff but chosen to proceed on their own.
  Sometimes we do delay committee consideration of nominations to allow 
a complaint to be resolved. Sometimes we proceed despite lawsuits 
involving nominees, such as the way we proceeded last year with the 
nomination of Judge Stephanie Rose of Iowa to the United States 
District Court for the District of Iowa even though there was a lawsuit 
pending in which there were allegations against her actions as the U.S. 
attorney for Iowa. Earlier this year, when defense counsel filed a 
motion against the U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico making 
allegations, we independently examined the matter. The committee 
proceeded with that nomination rather than delay it.
  I have reached out to the ranking member staff about getting back to 
our tradition of conducting bipartisan inquiries into allegations made 
against nominees. I hope that practice will be restored. With respect 
to the nomination of Todd Jones, we are further examining the matter, 
but I believe him qualified and at this time know of no good reason the 
Senate should not confirm his nomination to serve as Director of the 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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