[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 29, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7583-S7584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Senate will proceed to consider 
the motion to proceed to a resolution of disapproval filed by the 
Republican leader, which would cause the country to default on its 
debts for the first time in its history. The Democrats will oppose this 
motion and vote to preserve the full faith and credit of our great 
country. I remind my Republican friends that every Democrat and 27 
Republicans in the Senate, as well as 285 Members of the House of 
Representatives, already voted to do the right thing and pay the 
Nation's debts.
  I look forward to quickly dispensing with this Republican resolution, 
which would risk America's economic security, as well as a global 
depression. This vote will take place this afternoon, after our weekly 
business meetings.
  I want to spend a little bit of time talking about nominations. 
Directly after the vote on the default legislation, we will have the 
vote to break a filibuster of President Obama's nomination of Richard 
Griffin to serve as general counsel of the National Labor Relations 
Board.
  There have already been 67 of President Obama's nominations 
filibustered. Let's just vote on these nominations. I cannot imagine 
why it would be a good thing for this country, or the Senate, to not 
allow us to go forward on the nomination. If you don't like him, vote 
against him, but don't stop the debate from going forward.
  If cloture is invoked, there will be up to 8 hours of debate under 
the new rules we have established in the Senate. We will have 4 hours 
and the minority will have 4 hours. So I think that would be 
appropriate.
  Few Americans are aware of the job that the National Labor Relations

[[Page S7584]]

Board does. It looks out for the rights of millions of U.S. workers 
every day--Democratic workers, Republican workers, independents, tea 
party workers--regardless of whether they are in a union.
  Mr. Griffin has extensive experience in employment law. He is highly 
respected by his fellow labor lawyers on both the union and the 
business sides. As general counsel for the NLRB, he will safeguard fair 
compensation and working conditions for all American workers.
  This week the Senate will also vote on a number of other crucial 
executive nominations, some of which have been stalled for more than a 
year. The Senate will consider the nomination of Katherine Archuleta to 
serve as Director of the Office of Personnel Management. That is an 
extremely important position. She started her career in public service 
as an elementary school teacher. She will be the agency's first 
Hispanic director. Her desire to serve is earnest. This is what she 
said:

       You do it [as a public service] because you have a deep 
     passion for public good, for civic engagement.

  She has worked in both the Transportation and Energy Departments 
under President Clinton. She served as chief of staff to Labor 
Secretary Hilda Solis for 3 years. She is eminently qualified. Yet Ms. 
Archuleta is the first OPM Director to be filibustered in the entire 
history of this agency.
  This week the Senate will also consider the stalled nomination of 
Alan Estevez to be Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense. This 
man's nomination has been stalled for 402 days. He will be responsible 
for a $170 billion logistics budget--$170 billion. That is a year. This 
budget supports our men and women in uniform as well as millions of 
machines that take them where they want to go. He specialized in 
military logistics for more than 10 years. It is unfortunate that 
Republicans will hold up confirmation of such a crucial Defense 
Department nomination.
  I am told most of it is that it is held up for an unrelated matter, 
dealing with some other issue. It is just wrong. If you do not like 
this guy, stand and say why you don't like him and vote against him. 
Don't stop us from moving forward on the nomination.
  Most of the opposition to this man, who has been held up for 200 
days, is, I am told, by the senior Senator from Texas.
  The junior Senator from Texas has placed a hold on another 
nomination, a man by the name of Tom Wheeler to be Democratic member of 
the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, a very important agency. In 
addition to writing two books, Mr. Wheeler has founded several 
technological companies--important companies. He cofound the largest 
online targeted news service and helped develop the U.S. Government's 
telecommunications policy.
  President Obama nominated Tom Wheeler as well as Republican Michael 
O'Rielly to fill two vacant seats on the FCC; so what is stopping us 
from filling these vacancies with a bipartisan pair of nominees? Listen 
to this. The Senator from Texas has stalled the nomination because he 
opposes legislation proposed by Democrats in Congress that would 
require shadowy groups that spend millions on political advertising to 
disclose their donors.
  This next one is really a doozy: the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. 
It is an extremely important job. This man is qualified. He has run the 
Office of Management and Budget. He has been the President's Chief of 
Staff. He is now Secretary of the Treasury. What a fine, fine man--Jack 
Lew. Jack Lew, even though he is the Secretary of the Treasury of this 
great country, cannot go to meetings that other finance ministers from 
around the world can go to. Why? Because Republicans are holding up his 
nominations to all these important bank boards, finance boards, the 
International Monetary Fund. He is supposed to be there. He cannot go.
  He is a talented and dedicated public servant. He has already been 
approved by the Senate, confirmed by the Senate. Every Treasury 
Secretary serves as the U.S. representative on the international bank 
boards and offers input on America's position on global financial 
matters. That is his job. He cannot do that because of what I have just 
said. It is an embarrassment that we have not acted more swiftly to 
confirm him in this role. To think that we have to file cloture on 
this. Yet the junior Senator from Kentucky has subjected this 
nomination to partisan wrangling--and others have joined with him, I 
assume--as he threatens to do with the nomination of Janet Yellen to 
serve as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
  The Presiding Officer and others who serve in this body and have 
served in the House of Representatives have served with a fine public 
servant by the name of Mel Watt. I got to know Mel Watt when he was 
chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. He would come over and 
visit with me every month or so--a fine man. He has represented North 
Carolina's 12th Congressional District since 1993, and as senior Member 
of the House Financial Services Committee he understands the mistakes 
that led to the housing crisis.
  He also has proposed legislation to crack down on the worst abuses in 
mortgage lending and helped to pass the Dodd-Frank bill to prevent 
predatory lending. By any measure Congressman Watt is qualified to help 
struggling homeowners recover from the worst downturn in generations. 
My Republican colleagues should give him the up-or-down vote he 
deserves, not filibuster him.
  I know some Republicans do not like Dodd-Frank. Obviously, they 
didn't mind the abuses that took place that led to the crashing of Wall 
Street. But he should not be punished for that.
  At a time when America faces difficult economic times at home and 
various threats abroad, it is crucial the Senate confirm these talented 
and dedicated individuals to serve in the executive branch of 
government. Let us vote on these nominations. These normally easily 
confirmable positions should not have a filibuster. Not long ago I can 
remember Republicans who, in this body, were concerned because they 
could not get the votes they wanted on their nominees for President 
Bush. They spread on this record, clearly, that it is a right of the 
President to choose the players on his team. We should return to that 
custom, remove partisanship from the confirmation process and ensure 
highly qualified nominees receive the fair and speedy confirmation they 
deserve.

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