[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 183 (Thursday, November 9, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7136-S7137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Derek Kan, of 
California, to be Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I rise today to voice my strong support 
for the nomination of Derek Kan to be Under Secretary for 
Transportation Policy at the Department of Transportation. The Commerce 
Committee held a hearing on his nomination on June 8, 2017, and 
reported his nomination favorably out of Committee on June 29, 2017, by 
voice vote.
  It is now November 9--over 4 months since the nomination was reported 
out of Committee. This noncontroversial, well-qualified nominee has 
been languishing in the Senate for far too long. It is truly 
unfortunate that we have to go through the cloture process on this 
particular nominee, who is well known to many of us in the Senate due 
to his previous work as a Senate staffer.
  To illustrate how noncontroversial and well-qualified this nominee 
is, less than 2 years ago, Mr. Kan was confirmed by voice vote in the 
Senate to be a director on the Amtrak Board of Directors. The only 
thing that has changed in the 2 years since Mr. Kan was previously 
confirmed is that some on the Democratic side have decided to hold this 
nomination hostage, as well as the nomination of Ronald Batory to be 
Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration--a very important 
position, I might add--and the nomination of Adam Sullivan to be 
Assistant Secretary of Transportation for legislative affairs, pending 
assurances that the Trump administration will approve and fund the 
multibillion dollar Gateway project in New York and New Jersey. While 
no one questions the importance of this corridor, there are many other 
important projects that are also awaiting approval and funding at the 
Department. No project should get to cut the line based on the 
machinations of a handful of our Democratic colleagues.
  As I mentioned, Mr. Kan previously served as a director on the Amtrak 
Board of Directors, and before that, he served as a general manager for 
Lyft, the transportation network company. Earlier in his career, he 
served as a staffer to the Republican leader and as chief economist for 
the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Before becoming a Hill staffer, 
Mr. Kan served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the White House 
Office of Management and Budget.
  Once confirmed, Mr. Kan will be Transportation Secretary Elaine 
Chao's chief policy adviser on legislative and regulatory matters 
across all modes of transportation at the Department. With the 
ambitious agenda that

[[Page S7137]]

has been laid out before the Department under the Trump administration, 
I believe Mr. Kan will be well positioned to address the many 
challenges before the agency, including approving and funding important 
projects.
  Now that we have had to go through this multimonth process to have a 
cloture vote--again, the vote was just recorded; it was 87 to 9--I urge 
my colleagues to support his nomination to be Under Secretary for 
Transportation Policy at the Department of Transportation. Getting 
these important positions staffed and filled is long overdue, and it is 
high time the games and politics that are being played with these 
nominations come to an end.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that 
notwithstanding rule XXII, all postcloture time on the Kan nomination 
be yielded back and the confirmation vote on the Kan nomination occur 
at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 13.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

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