[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 11 (Friday, January 20, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I listened carefully to the statement by 
the Republican leader on the floor, and I am hoping we can reach some 
agreement later today as to the nominations to be considered this day 
and very quickly next week. I will, for the record, make it clear that 
the seven nominees who moved through on the first day of the Obama 
administration were people who had their ethics statements filed on 
time, had filed all the legally required papers on time for review.
  Unfortunately, that is not the case for all of the nominees by the 
new Trump administration. Some of them bring to this nomination some 
extraordinarily challenging financial data, and because of their 
companies, because of their lifestyles, because of their wealth, it 
takes longer to go through these documents than it does for people of 
modest means. When we proposed, by the Obama administration, Penny 
Pritzker, of Chicago, to serve as Secretary of Commerce, it took 6 
months to clear the paperwork on her financial background. The more 
complex the financial data, the more difficult and challenging it is 
for the committees of the Senate to do their work and to do it 
properly.
  We want to make certain we don't cut any corners. We don't want to 
create any advantage for any single nominee. They have to be held to 
the same standard as the nominees under the Obama administration. I am 
hoping we can move on it with dispatch on some of these nominees, and I 
don't quarrel with the Republican leader's premise that there are some 
noncontroversial nominees who would be easier to handle than others.
  Let me quickly add, for those who have forgotten the record of the 
Republicans in the Senate when it comes to delaying nominations, 
exhibit A will continue to be the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. 
For the first time in the history of the United States of America, the 
Republican majority in the U.S. Senate refused a hearing and a vote on 
a nominee to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. That went on for 
the entire duration of the Obama Presidency. Some 11 months, that 
position on the highest Court in the land remained vacant because of 
the specific political strategy of the Republican leader on the other 
side.
  He said: We will keep this open in the hopes that a Republican 
President will be able to fill it. He had a grin and a smile and, I 
guess, a feeling of accomplishment on election day when a Republican 
was elected President. That vacancy continued for political reasons, 
regardless of the fact that it created at least a hardship and some 
confusion on the highest Court of the land. It went on for 10, 11 
months, and it continues to this day.
  I might also remind him that the nomination of Loretta Lynch for the 
highest law enforcement position in America sat on that Senate calendar 
for months, with no objection stated by any Member on the other side. 
They refused to call her name and allow a vote for the Attorney General 
of the United States of America. Similarly, an Assistant Secretary of 
the Department of Treasury, a key position to deal with terrorism 
financing, was held on that calendar, I believe, for a year or more 
with no controversy. They had the power to do it, and they did it. So 
this notion that we slowed things down really negates and ignores the 
reality of the record before us.

  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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