[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 169 (Tuesday, November 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7974-S7976]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATIONS
Mr. REID. Mr. President, for the first 6 years of Barack Obama's
Presidency, Republicans have tried to block nearly every nomination
that has come to the Senate.
From a record backlog of judicial nominees to the first-ever
filibuster of a Secretary of Defense, Republicans abdicated their
constitutional responsibility to provide their advice and consent
regarding these nominations. In fact, the Republicans have blocked
President Obama's nominees more than all the other Presidential
nominees in history combined. Think about that. They have blocked more
of this President's nominations than all the preceding Presidents in
the history of our country. Seventy-one percent of all cloture motions
filed on nominees during the history of the country were for President
Obama's nominees. Seventy-three percent of cloture motions on judicial
nominees were for Obama nominees. Ninety-seven percent of cloture
motions on district court judges were for Obama nominees.
When Republicans assumed power of the Senate in January, some may
have expected that their obligation to govern would bring an end to
their obstruction, but it didn't. We all know what happened last year.
We all know they were holding up all nominations they didn't like--not
all of them but all of those they didn't like, and that is most all of
them.
Something that has been traditional in this country, the National
Labor Relations Board--they refused to allow us to have a vote. They
filibustered every one of them, which meant that the National Labor
Relations Board, which is so important to working men and women in this
country, could not go forward. They didn't even have a quorum. The
second highest court--some say the most important court in the land--is
the DC Court of Appeals. They refused to allow any votes on nominees.
They filibustered every one of them. We have five vacancies.
Well, something had to be done, and it was done. It was done for the
right reason, and it was good for the country. Those people have now
been confirmed. We have a better country as a result of that.
When the Republicans assumed power, they kept talking about how they
wanted to get the Senate back to work. Sadly, we all know that has been
an absolute joke. We have had more revotes than in the history of the
country during the time they have been in power here. We have done less
than any Senate in the history of the country. So getting the Senate
back to work is not very honest.
Sadly, those who were hoping that the Republicans would get serious
about governing have been terribly disappointed. Republicans are still
doing everything they can to block even the most qualified nominees.
Many of these nominations are vitally important to our national
security. I will list the people who have been blocked from having a
vote in the Senate--and they have even gone one step further; they are
not even holding hearings to allow them to come to the floor. Here are
some who we could vote on and we should vote on: The Under Secretary of
Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the Assistant Secretary of Defense
for International Security, Under Secretary of the Air Force, Secretary
of the Army, Under Secretary of the Army, Under Secretary of Treasury
for Terrorism and Financial Crimes. Those positions are unfilled.
Think about the Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial
Crimes. They are not even bringing it to a vote. As the United States
continues to fight ISIS and its terrorism, shouldn't we confirm the
person in Treasury who is responsible for terrorism and financial
crimes?
How about the Secretary of the Army--do you think that is important?
Being disappointed doesn't go very far if all my Republican colleagues
say is a resounding no. But this is all part of
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the Republican trend of grinding the nomination process to a halt.
So far this year the Republican Senate has confirmed 100 fewer
civilian nominees than it did during the most comparable Senate session
in 2007, for example. That number also lags well behind any other
recent session.
Judicial emergencies are triple what they were at the beginning of
this year. What is a judicial emergency? It means you have a judge who
has more work than he can handle. Jury trials are not allowed to go
forward, especially civil jury trials. Hearings on important issues,
restraining orders, and other important issues are not held. In 2007 at
this same stage we had confirmed 34 judges; this year, 10.
Consider the nomination of a man by the name of Felipe Restrepo for
the Third Circuit in Philadelphia. He was nominated more than 1 year
ago. The seat to which Judge Restrepo has been nominated is a judicial
emergency, meaning there are more cases than the judges are able to
handle. The seat has been vacant since July 2013. Judges have said: We
may do the work, but we are not doing it the way we should be doing it
because we are so busy on everything. That seat, I will repeat, has
been vacant since July of 2013.
He is an American success story. He was born in Colombia and came to
the United States as a toddler. In 1993 he became a U.S. citizen. He is
eminently qualified, having graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania--one of the Ivy League schools--and Tulane University Law
School. He worked as a public defender and started his own practice
focusing on civil rights and criminal defense issues. Since 2013 he has
served with distinction as a district judge in the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. The Senate confirmed him in his current judge position
unanimously.
More than a year ago, Senator Casey and Senator Toomey--a Democrat
and a Republican--jointly recommended Judge Restrepo to the President
of the United States for this appointment to be a circuit court judge.
Senator Toomey said at the time: ``I believe [Judge Restrepo] will also
make a superb addition to the Third Circuit.'' But despite his public
statements of support, the Republican Senator from Pennsylvania refused
to allow the Judiciary Committee to move forward with a hearing on his
nomination by refusing to turn in something called a blue slip, as it
is blue. It has been tradition in the Senate forever that you need both
Senators to turn in their blue slips. He won't turn his in, which has
delayed confirmation of a qualified man who has been recommended to the
President. He could advance Judge Restrepo by signing a piece of paper,
but he has long refused to do so. It is kind of baffling when he makes
public statements about what a great guy he is.
After the media started asking questions about the delay, the junior
Senator from Pennsylvania told the Huffington Post:
No, I'm not blocking him. But I've got to run for this
lunch.
The junior Senator from Pennsylvania couldn't wait for his lunch, but
this judge and the people who he is responsible for taking care of are
waiting. This Third Circuit is overwhelmed with work. It is a judicial
emergency. Other judges are doing more work than they should be doing.
They need him. So even though he couldn't wait for lunch, he is making
millions of Americans wait for a judge they desperately need.
In July his nomination was finally voted out of committee by voice--
meaning there was no controversy--showing, of course, that it should be
voted on now, immediately. That was in July. Remember, that was a year
after he was nominated. We are now in November. Why has a qualified
judge's nomination sat on the floor since July waiting for a lunch that
has never been completed?
It is past time that the Senate confirmed Judge Restrepo. Senator
Toomey should demand and ask the majority leader to allow us to vote on
Judge Restrepo before we leave for Thanksgiving--and in the process,
sign that little piece of paper. We would be happy to work with
Republicans to confirm this good man today.
Unfortunately, it is not just this junior Senator from Pennsylvania--
they should also confirm Judge Mary Barzee Flores to the Southern
District of Florida. Unfortunately, Judge Barzee Flores's nomination
has been held up due to the same delaying tactics that Senator Toomey
used to stall Judge Restrepo. But this nominee is being delayed by one
of the many Republicans running for President, the junior Senator from
Florida.
Senators Nelson and Rubio jointly signed and recommended that she
become a judge in the Southern District of Florida. She was nominated
on February 26, 2015--8 months ago--but since then the junior Senator
from Florida is running for President. He doesn't have time to mess
with a judicial emergency. The Miami-based seat is considered another
judicial emergency. It has been without a Senate-confirmed judge for
more than a year.
Like her counterpart in Pennsylvania, she has an impeccable record.
In fact, her nomination won wide praise in the Florida press. She is a
familiar face to many in the legal community in South Florida, having
served on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida in Miami for more
than a decade. Prior to her judicial service, Judge Flores worked as a
public defender for 13 years. By any measure, she is well qualified and
deserves a hearing in the Judiciary Committee.
Senator Nelson indicated his support 8 months ago, but the junior
Senator from Florida refuses to sign off on Judge Barzee Flores and is
the only obstacle stopping the nomination from moving forward. It is
puzzling that Senator Rubio is delaying a judge whom he helped
recommend to President Obama. Without his approval, the chairman of the
Judiciary Committee cannot schedule a hearing on the Barzee Flores
nomination.
Even with his busy schedule traveling around the country--I recognize
he doesn't vote here. He does not like to be in the Senate. He said so.
He does not like the Senate. That is why I said he should resign. He
talked about other Senators who missed votes. Any Senator who ran for
President during my time in the Senate loved the Senate. They may have
missed votes, but they never, never denigrated the Senate. Senator
Rubio has done just that. So even with his busy schedule running for
President and missing votes in the Senate, he should be able to find
seconds to sign his blue slip that would allow Judge Flores to move
forward with a hearing.
The junior Senator from Florida simply needs to sign a piece of paper
to advance a qualified nominee whom he recommended to fill a judicial
emergency in Florida, but like the junior Senator from Pennsylvania, he
refuses to do so. His constituents are paying a price, a big price.
Sadly, Republicans' strategy for the sake of obstruction is by no
means limited--sadly, I say it again--to the junior Senators from
Florida and Pennsylvania.
Right now, Republicans are blocking important State Department
nominations.
The junior Senator from Arkansas is preventing three Ambassadors from
getting their rightful vote on the Senate floor.
The junior Senator from Texas is blocking one of the most qualified
nominees before the Senate, Gayle Smith. She was nominated 6 months ago
as the next Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International
Development. With this refugee problem facing the world, facing our
country, wouldn't it be nice if we had someone whose job it was to
oversee this for our government? But, no, there is some extraneous
issue the junior Senator from Texas--who is also running for
President--is more concerned about than this important Agency.
I have spoken at length about the obsession of the senior Senator
from Iowa with blocking more than 20 qualified State Department
nominees. The nominees he has blocked are people who have worked as
Foreign Service officers for a long, long time for different periods of
time. When it comes time that they get automatic changes in their
status, they get a few more dollars and get a different title. He is
blocking these. That is so sad. There is no need for it.
If Republicans were serious about governing, they would change course
and stop blocking these nominations. Every moment that Republicans
delay, they are hurting our country in many
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different ways: our justice system, our foreign policy system, and our
ability to respond to the havoc that is taking place in the Middle East
right now. Let's put an end to all of this obstruction. Let's move
forward with votes on these qualified consensus nominees as we have
done historically. It wasn't until this Republican crowd arrived in the
Senate that they started doing it. We have never had this before. We
may have held somebody up for a while, but they basically put a stamp
of disapproval on anything that President Obama wants to do.
We are not going to stand by silently and allow these nominations to
linger in the Senate. We are going to continue to demand that they
schedule votes on these qualified, dedicated public servants so they
can work on behalf of our great country.
Mr. President, would the Chair announce the business of the day.
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