[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 17, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5749-S5750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, yesterday was a good day for the Senate. I 
want to praise the majority leader, who brought the Senate back from 
the brink, and the hard work of Senators from both parties who listened 
to each other during a lengthy discussion. In particular, I thank 
Senator Wicker for suggesting Monday night's bipartisan caucus, which 
allowed for a much needed dialogue among all Senators, and Senator 
McCain for his efforts to bring both sides together. The last time we 
held a bipartisan caucus meeting, in April, it was to hear Senator 
McCain discuss his experience as a prisoner of war. In all my time in 
the Senate, that was a particularly memorable evening for me. It is my 
hope these kinds of bipartisan discussions, like the one we had Monday 
night, will lead to better communication in the Senate and help us work 
together more effectively so we can address the problems that Americans 
face.
  Until yesterday, Senate Republicans had been blocking votes on 
several important Executive nominations, including Richard Cordray to 
be Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Gina McCarthy 
to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Tom Perez 
to be Secretary of Labor; and three of the five nominees to the 
National Labor Relations Board. Rather than arising from substantive 
opposition to these individual nominees, this obstruction was a 
partisan attempt to sabotage and eviscerate these agencies which 
protect consumers, the clean air and water that the American people 
want and deserve, and American workers. For example, I am unaware of 
any personal opposition to Richard Cordray, but Senate Republicans 
simply refused even to allow a confirmation vote for the director of an 
agency that they dislike. His confirmation last night, 2 years after he 
was first nominated, means that the CFPB is now truly empowered to 
protect American consumers.
  During my 38 years in the Senate, I have served with Democratic 
majorities and Republican majorities, during Republican administrations 
and Democratic ones. Whether in the majority or the minority, whether 
the chairman or ranking member of a committee, I have always stood for 
the protection of the rights of the minority. Even when the minority 
has voted differently than I have or opposed what I have supported, I 
have defended their rights and held to my belief that the best 
traditions of the Senate would win out and that the 100 of us who 
represent over 310 million Americans would do the right thing.
  Yet over the last 4 years, Senate Republicans have changed the 
tradition of the Senate with their escalating obstruction, and these 
actions threaten the Senate's ability to do the work of the American 
people.
  Instead of trying to work across the aisle on efforts to help the 
American people at a time of economic challenges, Senate Republicans 
have relied on the unprecedented use of the filibuster to thwart 
progress. They have long since crossed the line from use of the Senate 
rules to abuse of the rules, exploiting them to undermine our ability 
to solve national problems.
  Filibusters that were once used rarely have now become a common 
occurrence, with Senate Republicans raising procedural barriers even to 
considering legislation or to voting on the kinds of noncontroversial 
nominations the Senate once confirmed regularly and quickly by 
unanimous consent. The majority leader has been required to file 
cloture just to ensure that the Senate makes any progress at all to 
address our national and economic security, and a supermajority of the 
Senate is now needed even to allow a vote on basic issues.
  That is not how the Senate should work or has worked. The Senate has 
a tradition of comity, with rules that function only with the kind of 
consent that previously was almost always given. The rules are not 
designed to encourage Senators to obstruct at every turn. The Senate 
does not function if an entire caucus takes every opportunity to use 
obscure procedural loopholes to stand in the way of a vote because they 
might disagree with the result. Without serious steps to curtail these 
abuses, the approach taken during the Obama administration by Senate 
Republicans risks turning the rules of the Senate into a farce and 
calls into question the ability of the Senate to perform its 
constitutional functions.
  I was hopeful that the agreement reached earlier this year by the 
majority leader and the Republican leader represented a serious step 
toward restoring the Senate's ability to work for the American people. 
I was hopeful that the Republican Senators who joined with Senate 
Democrats in January would follow through on their commitment to 
curtail the abuse of Senate rules and practices that have marred the 
last 4 years.
  That is why I was so disappointed by the continued obstruction 
President Obama's nominees have been facing. This obstruction has 
serious consequences for the American people. The harm being done is no 
more readily apparent than with the Republican effort to shut down the 
National Labor Relations Board. It was critical that we reach a 
workable agreement with Senate Republicans to confirm nominees to the 
NLRB to ensure it will be able to function--rather than leave it in its 
current situation of facing a shutdown due to lack of quorum at the end 
of next month. Shutting down the NLRB would deny justice to American 
workers, stripping them of their right to organize and to speak out in 
favor of fair wages and decent working conditions without fear of 
retaliation. It would also prevent employees from creating a union, or 
for that matter, voting to end union representation. Without an NLRB, 
employers will also be hurt because they will be unable to stop 
unlawful activities by unions, including unlawful strikes. Workers and 
employers depend on the NLRB, and Senate Republicans should allow votes 
on the President's nominees so that the Board can do its job.
  Last week, some Senate Republicans declared that they could never 
allow a vote on the NLRB nominees who had received recess appointments 
to those positions, because the recess appointments have been 
determined by the DC Circuit to be illegal. However, according to that 
ruling by the DC Circuit, a total of 141 of President Bush's recess 
appointments were illegal. I do not recall any Senate Republicans 
arguing that those nominees should not be allowed a vote.
  Senate Republicans should have considered President Obama's NLRB 
nominees on their own merits, and, even if they would ultimately have 
opposed them, they should have allowed the Senate to hold an up-or-down 
vote. I have no doubt that if considered on their own merits the two 
previously recess-appointed NLRB nominees would have been confirmed and 
would have continued to serve the Nation well.
  These filibusters have been damaging to the Senate and our Nation. 
When it comes to Executive nominations, a President should have wide 
discretion to staff his or her administration.
  Our form of representative democracy requires a degree of self-
restraint from all of us for the legislative system to work for the 
good of the Nation and for the well-being of the American people. I 
believe that the strong cloture and confirmation votes on Richard 
Cordray's nomination yesterday reflect an acknowledgement of this 
principle by some Senate Republicans. While this deal leaves in place 
both the majority's ability to pursue further rules reform and the 
minority's ability to filibuster executive branch nominations, I hope 
that neither tool will be used. If the Senate Republicans who voted 
with us yesterday to invoke cloture on Richard Cordray continue to 
cooperate and work with us to allow

[[Page S5750]]

fair consideration of President Obama's, or any President's, executive 
branch nominations, the deal reached yesterday will rightfully be seen 
as an important step in restoring the Senate's ability to function.

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