[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S706-S707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Jeff Sessions

  Mr. President, I have been fortunate enough to get to know Jeff 
Sessions over the past 20 years. Not only is he a colleague whom I 
admire and respect, he is also one of my very best friends. I actually 
suffered through with him back when he had a nomination that was 
rejected by this body many years ago.
  As you know, Senator Sessions has been nominated by the President to 
be the next Attorney General of the United States. It is an incredible 
honor. There is no doubt in my mind that my friend will be perfect for 
the job. He is more than qualified for this position, and I know he 
will keep his word when he says he plans to uphold the laws we pass in 
Congress.
  Senator Sessions was elected to the Senate in 1997. That was 2 years 
after I was elected, and we have been very close friends ever since. 
For 20 years now, we have known each other and worked alongside each 
other on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Environment 
and Public Works Committee. Those are the two major committees we have 
been on. He is seated just to my right in each one of the committees, 
and, as the Chair knows, you get to know a person pretty well when you 
have been sitting there for these 3- or 4-hour-long meetings. So we 
have had that relationship with each other.
  Not only have we worked together, but we have also traveled and 
prayed together. You really get to know someone when you work, travel, 
and pray together. When working, a person's mind is revealed; when 
traveling, a person's character is revealed; and when you pray, the 
person's heart is revealed. I have come to know Senator Sessions as a 
God-fearing family man who puts others before himself and has a deep 
respect for the rule of law.
  Family man--every time he has a grandchild, his wife and my wife talk 
about our competing grandchildren.
  He helps those in need and makes sure that the legal system is 
protecting our citizens and holding criminals accountable.
  A person only needs to look at the legislation and causes he has 
championed to know him. He played a key role in fighting for fairness 
and funding for the rural HIV/AIDS patients when negotiating a 
reauthorization of the bipartisan Ryan White CARE Act. His advocacy 
brought funding to low-income, mostly African-American women who did 
not have easily accessible health care before. Senator Sessions has 
been an author and supporter of many pieces of bipartisan legislation, 
including protecting victims of child abuse, reducing prison sentences 
for those who are unfairly targeted, and helping the families of our 
fallen military personnel.
  As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Sessions 
has become a fierce advocate for keeping our country safe from 
terrorism, and he understands the risks we face. In fact, Senator 
Sessions is tough on crime and is well suited to oversee Federal law 
enforcement activities and to assist local governments in their 
efforts.
  Violent crime has recently been increasing. Furthermore--and I just 
found this out--the shooting deaths of police officers has increased by 
68 percent just in the last year, between 2015 and 2016. That is pretty 
remarkable. These trends are unacceptable, and Senator Sessions has 
pledged to reverse the course by strengthening the partnership between 
Federal and local law enforcement and by going after drug traffickers, 
aliens who violate the laws, and criminals who use guns to commit 
crimes.
  There is no question that Senator Sessions is qualified to do what he 
says he will and what the job asks of him. He served as a U.S. attorney 
for Alabama's Southern District, and he was also Alabama's attorney 
general, so he clearly knows the job. He doesn't have to be trained. It 
is because of his previous experiences that he will be able to 
transition from a partisan legislator to our Nation's top law 
enforcement officer with great ease.
  Countless groups of people have come out to support the nominee: the 
Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, former 
U.S. attorneys, a former FBI Director, current

[[Page S707]]

State attorneys general, and many more. All of the law enforcement 
professionals are behind him, and there is a reason for it: It is 
because that is his record, and people are aware of it.
  So I would like to take a minute to point out that it is cruel and 
unfair that people have tried to paint a picture of Senator Sessions as 
someone and something he is not. I think this is something that needs 
to be said.
  The man the opposition has painted does not exist. You all know Jeff 
Sessions. You know that the awful things being said about him are 
completely false. In fact, back in 1981, the Ku Klux Klan ordered the 
tragic, extremely undeserved murder of a young African-American man by 
the name of Michael Donald. Because of Senator Sessions's help and 
support, these Klan members were convicted and given either life 
sentences or the death penalty. That is Jeff Sessions. Furthermore, he 
later played a major role in the destruction of the Ku Klux Klan in 
Alabama when he helped bring a civil suit against them. As a result, 
the KKK went bankrupt, and he caused them to fall apart in that region. 
Again, those were Jeff Sessions' efforts.
  Before we vote on the confirmation of our friend and colleague, I ask 
that you all take a moment to seriously reflect how Senator Sessions 
has worked diligently with you over the past two decades and how 
perfectly qualified he is for this position.
  As for me, I thank him for his tireless efforts in Congress, for his 
friendship, and for his fellowship. He will go down as one of the truly 
great U.S. Attorneys General in this country's history.
  Mr. President, there are a lot of other nominees whom I have gotten 
to know. I had an experience of actually going to Trump Tower and 
getting to know some of the people who advise him. As I looked around 
the table, I saw people who were the right kind of people in health 
care, the right kind of people in energy, and the right kind of people 
in the military to give him advice in areas he might not have been 
exposed to in the past.
  And I just noticed that it has been very slow. I was not aware of 
this until a few minutes ago, that apparently the Cabinet confirmations 
are the slowest since George Washington. This is something that is 
really wrong. You can criticize someone, but after a while, you just go 
ahead and you know the votes are there, and you make sure that you go 
ahead and do it.