[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6903-S6904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXECUTIVE CALENDAR, NOMINATION DISCHARGED, AND PRIVILEGED NOMINATIONS

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of Calendar Nos. 900, Broadcasting Board 
of Governors; 651, 970, Chemical Safety Board; 1079, Rasmussen; 514, 
Lopes; 1104, Bradley; 1141, Rosekind; 933, Tierney; 644, 645, 646, 737, 
Udall Foundation; 844, 845, 862, 864, 865, Legal Services Board; 757, 
1085, 1086, Election Assistance Corporation; 1062, 1005, U.S. 
Attorneys; 1099, 1100, Coleman; 790, Alexander; 1111, Berteau; 1110, 
Scher; 1090, Baily; 1091, Cekuta; 1092, Uyehara; 1093, Mills; further, 
that the commerce committee be discharged from further consideration of 
the nomination PN 2092, O'Rielly; further, that the HELP Committee be 
discharged from further consideration of PN2065, PN1279, PN1280, Legal 
Services Board; further, that the Environment and Public Works 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of PN1916, Udall 
Foundation; that the nominations be agreed to; the motions to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no 
intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to 
the nominations; that any statements related to the nominations be 
printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified 
of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nominations considered and confirmed are as follows:


                    broadcasting board of governors

       Karen Kornbluh, of New York, to be a Member of the 
     Broadcasting Board of Governors for a term expiring August 
     13, 2016.


             chemical safety and hazard investigation board

       Richard J. Engler, of New Jersey, to be a Member of the 
     Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board for a term of 
     five years.
       Manuel H. Ehrlich, Jr., of New Jersey, to be a Member of 
     the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board for a term 
     of five years.


            office of the director of national intelligence

       Nicholas J. Rasmussen, of Virginia, to be Director of the 
     National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of 
     National Intelligence.


                    inter-american development bank

       Mark E. Lopes, of Arizona, to be United States Executive 
     Director of the Inter-American Development Bank for a term of 
     three years.


                     DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

       Leigh A. Bradley, of Virginia, to be General Counsel, 
     Department of Veterans Affairs.


                      DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

       Mark R. Rosekind, of California, to be Administrator of the 
     National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.


                     DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

       Helen Tierney, of Virginia, to be Chief Financial Officer, 
     Department of Veterans Affairs.


            MORRIS K. UDALL AND STEWART L. UDALL FOUNDATION

       Charles P. Rose, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Board 
     of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall 
     Foundation for a term expiring May 26, 2019.
       Mark Thomas Nethery, of Kentucky, to be a Member of the 
     Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall 
     Foundation for a term expiring October 6, 2018.
       Anne J. Udall, of Oregon, to be a Member of the Board of 
     Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall 
     Foundation for a term expiring October 6, 2016.
       Camilla C. Feibelman, of New Mexico, to be a Member of the 
     Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall 
     Foundation for a term expiring April 15, 2017.


                       legal services corporation

       Martha L. Minow, of Massachusetts, to be a Member of the 
     Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a 
     term expiring July 13, 2017.
       Charles Norman Wiltse Keckler, of Virginia, to be a Member 
     of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation 
     for a term expiring July 13, 2016.


                       legal services corporation

       Gloria Valencia-Weber, of New Mexico, to be a Member of the 
     Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a 
     term expiring July 13, 2017.
       John Gerson Levi, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Board 
     of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term 
     expiring July 13, 2017.
       Robert James Grey, Jr., of Virginia, to be a Member of the 
     Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a 
     term expiring July 13, 2017.


                     election assistance commission

       Thomas Hicks, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Election 
     Assistance Commission for a term expiring December 12, 2017.
       Matthew Vincent Masterson, of Ohio, to be a Member of the 
     Election Assistance Commission for a term expiring December 
     12, 2017.
       Christy A. McCormick, of Virginia, to be a Member of the 
     Election Assistance Commission for a term expiring December 
     12, 2015.


                         department of justice

       David Rivera, of Tennessee, to be United States Attorney 
     for the Middle District of Tennessee for the term of four 
     years.
       Arthur Lee Bentley III, of Florida, to be United States 
     Attorney for the Middle District of Florida for the term of 
     four years.


                             united nations

       Isobel Coleman, of New York, to be Representative of the 
     United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. 
     Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador.
       Isobel Coleman, of New York, as an Alternate Representative 
     of the United States of America to the Sessions of the 
     General Assembly of the United Nations during her tenure of 
     service as Representative of the United States of America to 
     the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform.


           united states agency for international development

       Paige Eve Alexander, of Virginia, to be an Assistant 
     Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
     Development.


                         department of defense

       David J. Berteau, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary 
     of Defense.
       Robert M. Scher, of the District of Columbia, to be an 
     Assistant Secretary of Defense.


                          department of state

       Jess Lippincott Baily, of Ohio, a Career Member of the 
     Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be 
     Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United 
     States of America to the Republic of Macedonia.
       Robert Francis Cekuta, of New York, a Career Member of the 
     Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be 
     Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United 
     States of America to the Republic of Azerbaijan.
       Margaret Ann Uyehara, of Ohio, a Career Member of the 
     Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be 
     Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United 
     States of America to Montenegro.
       Richard M. Mills, Jr., of Texas, a Career Member of the 
     Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador 
     Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United

[[Page S6904]]

     States of America to the Republic of Armenia.


                   FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

       Michael P. O'Rielly, of New York, to be a Member of the 
     Federal Communications Commission for a term of five years 
     from July 1, 2014.


                       LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

       Joseph Pius Pietrzyk, of Ohio, to be a Member of the Board 
     of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term 
     expiring July 13, 2017.
       Laurie I. Mikva, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Board 
     of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term 
     expiring July 13, 2016.
       Victor B. Maddox, of Kentucky, to be a Member of the Board 
     of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term 
     expiring July 13, 2016.


            morris k. udall and stewart l. udall foundation

       James L. Huffman, of Oregon, to be a Member of the Board of 
     Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall 
     Foundation for a term expiring October 6, 2020.

  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the action of 
the Senate with respect to discharging PN Nos. 2065, 1279, 1280, and 
1916 from the HELP and EPW Committees be vitiated.
  For the information of the Senate, these nominations were on the 
calendar on the privileged nominations list.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                          Rosekind Nomination

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President. I support the nomination of Dr. Mark 
Rosekind to be the next administrator of the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, NHTSA.
  Dr. Rosekind has served as a member of the National Traffic Safety 
Board, NTSB since 2009. His expertise is in developing countermeasures 
for fatigue in order to enhance vehicle safety. He also previously 
served at NASA for a number of years, and founded a technology company 
aimed at creating software that helps to reduce the role of fatigue in 
traffic incidents.
  While I have some reservations about his somewhat limited management 
experience, given the size of the workforce he has been nominated to 
lead, I believe Dr. Rosekind's experience and expertise will enable him 
to approach this agency that many perceive to be in crisis with an eye 
toward making it more agile and technologically capable. I believe that 
NHTSA must have a leader who can hit the ground running, and Dr. 
Rosekind's extensive work in the safety area gives me confidence that 
he will be the right leader at this time.
  As I stated at Dr. Rosekind's nomination hearing last week, the 
string of auto recalls this year has been cause for grave concern. We 
are on pace to have the all-time worst year for auto recalls in U.S. 
history, with about 60 million vehicles being subject to recalls so 
far. In many of these cases, there are legitimate questions about 
whether NHTSA should have identified the defective products earlier and 
communicated more effectively with the public.
  Since the start of the year, I have called on President Obama to 
nominate a qualified individual to lead NHTSA without delay because 
inaction sends a terrible signal to the regulated community and the 
American people about automobile safety and oversight.
  It took 343 days for President Obama to nominate a qualified 
individual to lead NHTSA, at a time when the Nation faced a year of 
record recalls, from the GM ignition switch recalls that began in 
February to the recalls involving defective Takata air bags. In fact, 
President Obama did not formally nominate Dr. Rosekind until the 
evening before the Commerce Committee was to hold a hearing regarding 
these defective Takata air bags.
  By contrast, it has taken only 22 days for the Senate to receive the 
nomination, work through regular order at the Commerce Committee to 
hold a hearing and a markup for Dr. Rosekind's nomination, and today, 
to confirm his nomination by the full Senate. I believe the Senate's 
action today sends the clear signal that Senators on both sides of the 
aisle care very deeply about improving auto safety.
  I look forward to working with Dr. Rosekind as NHTSA continues to 
work through the issues underlying the record number of recalls this 
year. I particularly look forward to learning the conclusions of the 
top-to-bottom review of NHTSA currently being conducted by the Obama 
administration, which Dr. Rosekind has promised to share publicly. Dr. 
Rosekind has a challenging road ahead of him, and the Commerce 
Committee will continue to pursue rigorous oversight of NHTSA for the 
foreseeable future, as well as possible solutions to better address 
some of the lapses that have occurred both at NHTSA and with certain 
auto manufacturers and parts suppliers.
  I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield the floor and suggest the 
absence of a quorum.

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