[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 125 (Tuesday, August 4, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S6287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          NOMINATION OBJECTION

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I intend to object to any unanimous 
consent request at the present time relating to the nomination of David 
Malcolm Robinson to be Assistant Secretary for Conflict and 
Stabilization Operations and Coordinator for Reconstruction and 
Stabilization.
  I will object because the State Department has engaged in 
unreasonable delay in responding to Judiciary Committee investigations 
and inquiries. Since June of 2013, the Judiciary Committee has 
requested a number of documents related to an investigation into Ms. 
Huma Abedin regarding her possible conflicts of interest created by her 
simultaneous employment with the State Department and private sector 
entities. In addition, the Judiciary Committee has inquired about 
former Secretary Clinton and Ms. Abedin's questionable email practices 
that may be in violation of Department policy and Federal law. 
Furthermore, the committee's inquiry also centers on the possible 
interference of Freedom of Information Act requests by State Department 
personnel, including Secretary Clinton's former Chief of Staff, Ms. 
Cheryl Mills. To this day, the committee has not received a complete 
response. Moreover, the committee recently acquired information that 
shows the State Department has been in possession of material that 
would answer some of the Committee's inquiries. Yet, the requested 
material is still not forthcoming.
  This willful lack of cooperation is made more evident by the example 
of repeated failures by State Department personnel to respond to emails 
or respond days or weeks later. And in yet another recent committee 
investigation beginning in June 2015, the State Department has still 
failed to provide any communication, via email or a phone call, to 
acknowledge or confirm that they have received a committee letter, 
despite three emails sent by committee staff.
  Not only has the Judiciary Committee experienced unacceptable delays 
in receiving information, other entities inside and outside of the 
government have experienced delays as well. The Associated Press sued 
the State Department over the failure to satisfy repeated document 
requests under the Freedom of Information Act related to these same 
issues. One of these requests dates back 5 years ago. Judge Richard 
Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the judge 
responsible for this case, chided the State Department for its failure 
to produce documents on time, ``Now, any person should be able to 
review that in one day--one day. Even the least ambitious bureaucrat 
could do this.''
  In total, these actions illustrate a pattern of conduct that clearly 
demonstrates a lack of cooperation and bad faith in its interaction 
with Congress. This is unacceptable and cannot continue.
  In order to maintain the proper balance of separation of powers and 
in order for Congress to exercise its proper oversight function, 
government agencies must respond to inquiries. The State Department 
apparently believes that it can simply ignore Congress. It is important 
to note that my objection is not intended to question Mr. Robinson's 
credentials in any way. However, withholding consent to suspend Senate 
rules on nominations is one tool a Senator has to incentivize executive 
agencies to respond to congressional inquiries. Frankly, this should 
not be necessary, and the nominee is an innocent victim of the State 
Department's contemptuous failures to respond to congressional 
inquiries. I urge the State Department to change its ways and if they 
choose not to, I will be forced to escalate the scope of my intent to 
object to include unanimous consent requests relating to Foreign 
Service officer candidates as well.

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