[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S700-S701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



               Nomination of Neil Gorsuch and the Cabinet

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, President Trump's outstanding Supreme 
Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has earned high praise from all across the 
political spectrum.
  Some of it has come from unlikely corners, whether Democratic 
Senators, left-leaning publications, President Obama's own legal 
mentor, even his former top Supreme Court lawyer. We have heard from 
those Gorsuch has taught. We have heard from many who have worked 
alongside him. In fact, just a few days ago we received a letter from 
several of his former law colleagues. So let me share some of that with 
you now. The letter began:

       We are Democrats, Independents, and Republicans.
       Many of us have served in government, some during 
     Republican and some during Democratic administrations; some 
     of us have served in both. We have clerked for Supreme Court 
     justices and appellate and district court judges appointed by 
     Democratic and Republican presidents. We represent a broad 
     spectrum of views on politics, judicial philosophy, and many 
     other subjects as well. But we all agree on one thing: Our 
     former colleague, Neil M. Gorsuch . . . is superbly qualified 
     for confirmation.
       He is a man of character, decency, and accomplishment, [one 
     who represented all of his clients] without regard to 
     ideology [and one] who merits this appointment.

  Clearly, it is not going to be easy to paint Judge Gorsuch as 
anything but extremely qualified and exceptionally fair, but that 
hasn't stopped some on the left from trying. They started musing about 
blocking any nominee before the President had even nominated anyone. It 
is a good reminder that much of the opposition we are seeing from far 
left groups and Democratic Senators isn't so much about Judge Gorsuch 
as it is about their dissatisfaction with the outcome of the election.
  As a Washington Post headline recently declared, ``Democrats' goal 
with court nomination: Make it a referendum on Trump.''
  ``[P]rominent Senate Democrats,'' the article read, are ``giving the 
nominee's 10-plus years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th 
Circuit almost secondary consideration.'' It seems they believe their 
best, and perhaps only, bet to bring down this highly qualified judge 
is by ``inject[ing] Trump into the process.''
  The very next day, the New York Times ran an article about Democrats' 
apparent hope that this Supreme Court fight will be ``More About Trump 
Than Gorsuch.'' In other words, our Democratic colleagues are finding 
it hard to oppose Judge Gorsuch on the merits, so they are trying to 
divert attention and invent new hurdles for him to surmount. That is 
the playbook. Sure enough, we see them running the play.
  Consider the assistant Democratic leader's speech the other day. It 
was supposedly about Judge Gorsuch. He sure had a lot to say about 
President Trump, about things President Trump has done, about things 
President

[[Page S701]]

Trump might do, about refighting old battles but precious little about 
the qualifications of the actual nominee before us, and precious little 
about the increasing number of accolades he has been receiving, 
especially from well-known folks on the political left. I mentioned 
several a moment ago.
  Now we can add another to the list: Alan Dershowitz, the famous 
constitutional scholar and longtime Harvard law professor. Dershowitz 
described Gorsuch as ``highly credentialed and hard to oppose'' and 
dismissed the idea that he would be caricatured as some sort of 
``extreme right-wing [ideologue].'' ``[T]hat doesn't seem to fit what I 
know about him,'' Dershowitz said, adding that Gorsuch will ``be hard 
to oppose on the merits.'' Indeed, he will.
  That is precisely why our Democratic colleagues are making the debate 
on his nomination about other things and other people. That is also why 
they are arguing that there are special hurdles for Judge Gorsuch to 
clear--hurdles they are forced to admit were not there for the first-
term nominees of Democratic Presidents.
  When even a leftwinger like Rachel Maddow can't help but admit that 
Judge Gorsuch is ``a relatively mainstream choice,'' when even Maddow 
characterizes a Democratic attempt to filibuster his nomination as 
``radical,'' it is hard to argue otherwise. That will not stop many on 
the far left from trying.
  I invite Democrats, who spent many months insisting ``we need nine,'' 
to now follow through on that advice by giving this superbly qualified 
nominee fair consideration and an up-or-down vote. It is time to 
finally accept the results of the election and move on so we can all 
move our country forward.
  That would also apply to other nominations before the Senate. Just 
before the election, the Democratic leader said he believed the Senate 
has a ``moral obligation, even beyond the economy and politics, to 
avoid gridlock.'' Put simply, he said: ``We have to get things done.'' 
Yet just a few months later, Democratic obstruction has reached such 
extreme levels that the smallest number of Cabinet officials have been 
confirmed in modern history at this point in a Presidency. It is a 
historic break in tradition, a departure from how newly elected 
Presidents of both parties have been treated in decades past.
  In fact, by this same point into their terms, other recent Presidents 
from both sides of the aisle had more than twice as many Cabinet 
officials confirmed as President Trump does now. President Obama had 12 
Cabinet officials confirmed at this point in his term, President George 
W. Bush had all 14 Cabinet nominees confirmed at this point, President 
Clinton had 13, and President Trump has a mere 4.
  It seems this gridlock and opposition has far less to do with the 
nominees actually before us than the man who nominated them, just like 
we are seeing with President Trump's outstanding Supreme Court pick. 
The Democratic leader and his colleagues are under a great deal of 
pressure from those on the left who simply cannot--cannot--accept the 
results of a democratic election. They are calling for Democrats to 
delay and punt and blockade the serious work of the Senate at any cost. 
They would like nothing more than for Democrats to continue to resist 
and prevent this President from moving our country forward.
  Unfortunately, many of our friends across the aisle have given in to 
these groups' calls for obstruction, and some have even gone to 
unprecedented lengths to delay for delay's sake. They have forced 
meaningless procedural hurdles, they have stalled confirmation votes as 
long as possible, they have postponed hearings, and they have even 
boycotted committee meetings altogether. Their excuses are ever-
changing, and some border on the absurd. ``We don't like the seating 
arrangement,'' they say. ``We can't be late to a protest,'' they argue. 
There was even some excuse about a YouTube video.

  Look, enough is enough. The American people elected a new President 
last November. Democrats don't have to like that decision, but they do 
have a responsibility to our country. The American people want us to 
bring the Nation together and move forward. It is far past time to put 
the election behind us and put this President's Cabinet into place, 
just as previous Senates have done for previous newly elected 
Presidents of both parties.
  Mr. President, now I wish to say a few words about one nominee whom 
we will be voting on tomorrow. The nominee for Education Secretary, 
Betsy DeVos, is a well-qualified candidate who has earned the support 
of 20 Governors and several education groups from across the Nation. As 
Education Secretary, she will be our students' foremost advocate, 
working to improve our education system so that every child has a 
brighter future.
  Importantly, she also understands that our teachers, students, 
parents, school boards, and local and State governments are best suited 
to make education decisions--not Washington bureaucrats. I have every 
confidence that Mrs. DeVos will lead the Department of Education in 
such a way that will put our students' interests first, while also 
strengthening the educational opportunities available to all of 
America's children.
  I urge colleagues to join in confirming Betsy Devos so that she can 
begin the very important work before her without further delay.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.