[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 171 (Thursday, November 19, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8141-S8143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF ADAM SZUBIN

  Mr. BROWN. Another way to fight this war on terrorism and to help our 
efforts on fighting ISIS is to actually put the people in place in the 
U.S. Government who help us do that. I came to the floor today to join 
Senator Casey--my friend from Pennsylvania who is

[[Page S8142]]

going to mention him too--and to support the nomination of Adam Szubin.
  Adam Szubin has been delayed for more than 200 days by Republican 
obstruction in the Senate banking committee. Well, who is Adam Szubin? 
Adam Szubin has been nominated--listen to this job--to be the Under 
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Treasury 
Department. This isn't a low-level employee who has nothing to do with 
ISIS, fighting ISIS, and fighting terrorism; this is the No. 1 person 
in the Treasury Department--perhaps the No. 1 person in our whole 
government next to the Commander in Chief--who is in the position to 
fight terrorism and fight the kinds of financial crimes that ISIS 
depends on to fund its operations.
  We had a hearing. Originally Mr. Szubin worked for the Bush 
administration for a number of years. He has been serving interim 
during the Obama administration, but my colleagues on the banking 
committee, my colleagues in the Senate, simply have refused to bring 
Mr. Szubin to a vote. He served Republican and Democratic 
administrations in senior positions. There is no question, zero 
question, that he is qualified for this position.
  Let me tell you a little more about him. In 15 years he has 
distinguished himself as a tough, aggressive enforcer of our Nation's 
sanction laws--not against England or Germany--but against countries 
such as Iran, Russia, North Korea, against money launderers, against 
terrorists, against narcotraffickers, the source of a good bit of the 
money for terrorist groups such as ISIS.
  Republicans say the administration is not doing enough; Barack Obama 
won't stand up. Well, the Republicans are blocking this appointment 
that would give the President the tools he needs to fight terrorism.
  Again, more about Mr. Szubin, he earned his undergraduate and law 
degrees with high honors, he was a Fulbright scholar in Israel before 
joining the Department of Justice. As I said, he served with President 
Bush and with President Obama; he was counsel to the Deputy Attorney 
General. He worked as trial attorney on the Terrorism Litigation Task 
Force. He received the Department of Justice Special Commendation Award 
for his work countering terrorism. For 9 years he directed the 
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Many of us first came to 
know him then--in both parties--as a thoughtful policymaker and superb 
lawyer. Both parties respected him until Barack Obama nominated him; 
then Republicans seemed to forget how good he was and how qualified he 
was.
  The Anti-Defamation League in this letter described him as an 
``intellectual heavyweight who has worked effectively with global 
partners to amplify the effects of U.S. sanctions.''
  The United Against Nuclear Iran, a group that strongly opposed the 
President's deal with Iran, supports Mr. Szubin to be promoted, to be 
confirmed by the Senate.
  Many of my colleagues on the banking committee said: We are not going 
to confirm Szubin because he was for the Iran nuclear deal. Well, he 
worked for the President of the United States, who was negotiating it. 
Of course, he was for it. But are they going to oppose him because they 
don't like what his boss did or are they opposing him because they 
don't like much of anything President Obama did?
  The fact is that group after group, whether they are for the Iran 
nuclear agreement or against it--it really doesn't matter--supports Mr. 
Szubin.
  His mentor, Bush Under Secretary Stuart Levy--his mentor and his 
predecessor, not immediate predecessor but predecessor--was confirmed 
by the Senate 3 weeks after his nomination. But you know what, both 
parties then with President Bush recognized that you confirm somebody 
who is central to the war on terrorism. Republicans then believed that.
  Today, with a Democratic President, even though Adam Szubin is 
supported by darn near everybody--with his qualifications, with his 
support and work in two administrations--they don't want to bring him 
forward for a vote. I am not even sure why. I hear all kinds of 
reasons, none of them really on the record, none of them official, from 
my colleagues. Oh, they don't like President Obama or this guy must be 
a bad guy because President Obama appointed him or he was part of the 
government when the nuclear agreement with Iran was negotiated. All of 
these reasons simply don't pass a straight-face test. This is a 
critical national security post, and it needs to be filled permanently 
and quickly.
  Mr. Szubin heads what is, in effect, Treasury's economic war room. It 
manages U.S. efforts to combat terrorist financing and fight financial 
crimes. Again, ISIS, ISIL, gets a good bit of its funding through 
illegal activities like that. If the U.S.--and if Mr. Szubin has the 
full range of powers that we have given him in the Congress, he can 
help us fight that kind of financing, stop that kind of financing for 
ISIS.
  He is helping to lead the charge to choke off their funding sources 
to prevent them from developing additional capacity to strike more 
targets around the world. He is working to hold Iran to its commitments 
under the nuclear deal and to lead a campaign against the full range of 
Iran's other destructive activities. He is supported by the Global 
Jewish Advocacy and, as I said earlier, by the Anti-Defamation League 
and by United Against Nuclear Iran.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the documents 
from the organizations I just mentioned.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


                                    American Jewish Committee,

                                 Washington, DC, November 4, 2015.

AJC Statement on Adam J. Szubin Nominee for Under Secretary of Treasury 
                for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence

       Jason Isaacson, AJC Associate Executive Director for 
     Policy, today issued the following statement on the 
     organization's behalf:
       AJC has worked with, and admired the dedication and 
     effectiveness of, the Under Secretary-designee for Terrorism 
     and Financial Intelligence, Adam Szubin, whose nomination is 
     now before the Senate Banking Committee.
       At a time when Iran and its terrorist proxies are ever more 
     active and empowered, and when other terrorist threats to the 
     United States and its allies are escalating, it is urgent 
     that Treasury have in this critical position an experienced, 
     creative, tireless watchdog, who has the know-how and the 
     authority to lead U.S. efforts to track and choke off the 
     financial lifeblood of terror.
       As Acting Under Secretary, Adam Szubin has demonstrated 
     that resolve and that skill--to the benefit of America's 
     security and that of our allies. We look forward to his 
     continued public service.
                                  ____



                                       Anti-Defamation League,

                                  New York, NY, September 9, 2015.
     Hon. Richard Shelby,
     Chairman, Banking Committee, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Sherrod Brown,
     Ranking Member, Banking Committee, U.S. Senate, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Brown: On behalf of 
     the Anti-Defamation League, we write in support of President 
     Obama's nomination of Adam J. Szubin to serve as Under 
     Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, Department of 
     Treasury.
       As director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control 
     (OFAC), Mr. Szubin has earned a reputation as an intellectual 
     heavyweight who has worked effectively with global partners 
     to amplify the effects of U.S. sanctions. OFAC has been 
     dubbed America's war room, a front line for the United States 
     and its allies against terrorists and tyrants. It is a 
     critical part of the effort to engage global partners to 
     amplify the impact of sanctions and to innovate in the way 
     that the U.S. targets violators.
       OFAC's effectiveness, under Mr. Szubin's leadership, has 
     exemplified the balance between working quietly behind the 
     scenes or through diplomatic channels and sending strong 
     public messages around the world about America's robust 
     commitment to crack down sponsors of tcrror like Iran.
       But Mr. Szubin has done much more than simply ably 
     administer and enforce U.S. sanction against terrorism, 
     weapons proliferation and rogue states. He has continued to 
     expand and innovate how sanctions are devised and implemented 
     as he has done with respect to sanctions on Iran and Russia.
       As Members of Congress have debated how to balance 
     diplomacy and sanctions, leaders on all sides of the debate 
     are unified in their assessment that the strong, vigorous 
     enforcement efforts by committed professionals like Adam 
     Szubin have been one of the most potent and effective tools 
     against the funding of terror and the isolation of rogue 
     regimes.
       We urge the Committee to act promptly and favorably on Mr. 
     Szubin's nomination.
           Sincerely,
                                              Jonathan Greenblatt,
                                                National Director.

[[Page S8143]]

     
                                  ____
          [From the United Against Nuclear Iran, Nov. 3, 2015]

UANI Supports Senate Confirmation of Adam Szubin as Under Secretary for 
                     Terrorism and Financial Crimes


     Ambassador Wallace and Senator Lieberman Express Support for 
                              Confirmation

       New York, NY--United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO 
     Ambassador Mark D. Wallace and UANI Chairman Senator Joseph 
     I. Lieberman issued the following statement today regarding 
     the Senate confirmation of Adam Szubin as Under Secretary for 
     Terrorism and Financial Crimes in the U.S. Department of the 
     Treasury:
       ``UANI was a leading opponent of the Joint Comprehensive 
     Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement with Iran. The 
     administration's success in blocking bipartisan and majority 
     opposition to the JCPOA on Capitol Hill should not be the 
     basis to oppose the confirmation of Director Szubin as Under 
     Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Crimes. 
     Simply put, he is the best person for the job, a true expert, 
     a dedicated public servant and fully committed to serve his 
     country. He has shown those traits over two successive 
     administrations--a rare feat in Washington. On behalf of 
     UANI, and in the strongest possible terms, we support 
     Director Szubin's confirmation. We respectfully call on all 
     of our Senate friends who were rightfully frustrated by the 
     administration's tactics related to the JCPOA to put those 
     concerns aside and support the confirmation of Director 
     Szubin.''

  Mr. BROWN. He has support across the political spectrum--or at least 
he did until he was nominated by this President.
  I serve on the banking committee with Chairman Shelby. I sit next to 
him as the ranking member. I like Senator Shelby. I work with Mr. 
Shelby day-by-day on many things. He has described Mr. Szubin as 
``eminently qualified.'' He has served with distinction in senior 
national security roles--I will say it again--for 15 years under 
Presidents of both parties. He is well regarded around the world for 
his intellect, courage, and expertise. He deserves the strong backing 
of the Senate.
  Republicans in Congress need to stop holding our national security 
apparatus hostage to political demands. They should allow--we should 
allow Adam Szubin and other national security nominees to be approved 
as soon as possible.
  Again, strip the partisanship away. Do what is right: Confirm Adam 
Szubin; confirm these other national security people.
  They aren't controversial. The only thing controversial about these 
nominations is that Barack Obama made them. Well, the last time I 
checked, he was elected President of the United States twice, including 
my No. 1 swing State in the country--the hardest one to win, the one 
that both parties fight for in every election. He carried my State 
twice. He carried my State by over 100,000 votes.
  He is the President of the United States. He appointed Adam Szubin, 
who is eminently qualified, who has had support from both parties. Why 
don't my colleagues confirm him, giving him the full range of powers to 
fight ISIS, to keep ISIS from getting the resources and the financing 
they are getting now to launch these terrible terrorist crimes against 
innocent men and women all over the world?
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning 
business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in morning business.
  The Senator is recognized.

                          ____________________