[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 34 (Monday, February 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Cabinet Nominations

  Finally, Mr. President, I want to comment again on the Cabinet. The 
three nominees the Senate will consider this week are similar to the 
rest of the President's Cabinet in the number of conflicts of interest 
they possess, their lack of confidence and expertise, and their hard-
right ideology. The Cabinet confirmation process has been like an 
assembly line of the least qualified and most conflicted nominees I 
have seen in my time in the Senate.
  Just yesterday, the nominee to be the Secretary of the Navy withdrew 
his name from consideration because he couldn't disentangle himself 
from his massive personal business interests. He may have more 
integrity than some of the others who continued through the process 
with conflicts of interest hanging over their heads. The Secretary of 
the Navy nominee is 1 of 14 relatively high-level administration 
officials who have left, resigned or withdrawn their nomination in just 
the first month of this Presidency. That list includes the nominee for 
Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy, and 
the principal National Security Advisor.
  It is clear the Trump administration did not properly vet or 
carefully select these picks. With that in mind, the Senate should 
carefully scrutinize the nominees this week on the floor and vote their 
conscience.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Strange). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, since Inauguration Day, the Senate has 
been slow making its way through confirming Cabinet Secretaries. 
Democrats, it seems, have used just about every trick in the book to 
try to slow down the process. There are Democrats in the Senate who are 
delaying things even when other Democrats in the Senate support the 
person who has actually been nominated by the President.
  (Mr. YOUNG assumed the Chair.)
  Remember when President Obama took office, Republicans were far more 
willing to let the President have the team he wanted. He had won the 
election and was entitled to his Cabinet.
  We are now 39 days into President Trump's term, and the Senate has 
confirmed now 17 of his nominees--17 over 39 days. President Obama got 
20 of his people confirmed in the first 9 days. It does seem the more 
the Democrats delay, the more the American people will see the 
Democrats are just being childish and spiteful.