[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 18, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2248-S2249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of Mike Pompeo

  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, over the past 24 hours we have learned of 
a high-level meeting between Director Pompeo--Mike Pompeo, the 
President's nominee to become Secretary of State--and Kim Jong Un, the 
leader--the tyrant leader--of North Korea, who has threatened to use 
nuclear weapons not only against our allies but against the United 
States and has a growing capability in his efforts to do just that.
  We have also seen incredible partisan obstruction threatened on his 
nomination. The absurd levels of partisanship in this Chamber are a 
stain on our institution. We see it at every level of nominations, from 
ambassadorships to commissions to boards. Now we see it at the level of 
the Secretary of State, a position that will be instrumental in 
denuclearizing the North Korean regime.
  Director Pompeo had his confirmation hearing last week before the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We now know that his testimony at 
this committee hearing took place after he had visited Kim Jong Un, and 
in this committee hearing, he made it very clear that our goal remains 
the complete and verifiable irreversible denuclearization. That is the 
stated goal, confirmed by Director Pompeo: the complete and verifiable 
irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. Yet we now have people 
threatening to stop this nomination at a critical time when we face a 
nuclear threat that is the greatest this country has seen since the 
Cuban Missile Crisis.
  Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would decide to deny 
this country its top State Department diplomat.
  Let me describe what some of our colleagues have said who have 
claimed now that they are going to vote against Mike Pompeo for 
Secretary of State but who, just a few months back, voted to confirm 
Mike Pompeo. One of my colleagues who is voting against Director Pompeo 
for Secretary of State has admitted that Director Pompeo has been a 
``solid manager'' of the CIA, saying:

       I voted for him to head the CIA and don't wish I had that 
     vote back. I think he has a background in intel and has been 
     a solid manager there.


[[Page S2249]]


  Another colleague, who tried to criticize Director Pompeo's diversity 
policies at the CIA, was met with this response from Director Pompeo, 
who explained at the hearing that those types of complaints decreased 
under his leadership. Mike Pompeo stated: ``The number of--we call them 
`no fear complaints'--the statutory requirement decreased from 2016 to 
2017 by 40 percent.''
  Director Pompeo further explained: ``I'm proud of the record . . . 
the work that my team has done on this.''
  So concerns about diversity policies was refuted at the committee 
hearing.
  Another Senator seems worried that Mike Pompeo is conducting 
diplomacy and said: ``Pompeo is the wrong person to be engaging in 
diplomacy.''
  The nominee to be Secretary of State is the wrong person to be 
conducting diplomacy? Perhaps we need somebody working at the 
Department of Transportation. Maybe that is the person they want to 
conduct diplomacy. Building interstates--maybe that is who they think 
should be conducting diplomacy. I would rather have somebody who has 
been nominated to be Secretary of State to be conducting diplomacy--
somebody who has an outstanding background in the military, somebody 
who stood in Europe during the height of the Cold War, standing on the 
iron wall.
  This is a time when we ought to be doing everything we can to confirm 
a Secretary of State--somebody who has had meetings already with Kim 
Jong Un, who has an understanding of what has to happen to achieve what 
Kim Jong Un has said--denuclearization--to achieve what is the goal of 
this country, the stated goal that is already enshrined in law: 
complete and verifiable irreversible denuclearization.
  To simply oppose his nomination for partisan purposes is wrong. We 
have seen it time and again. What we have is a simple partisan effort 
to derail the top diplomat, who is already engaged in top-level 
negotiations about denuclearization with the most significant threat 
this country has seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis. This country 
deserves better. Certainly this institution can do better.
  We have somebody in Mike Pompeo with a solid background, an 
understanding of diplomacy and, clearly, the intelligence background 
through his time at the CIA, and now he would be denied this 
opportunity simply because of his political affiliation.
  This country deserves better.
  I urge my colleagues to stop this absurd obstruction and confirm Mike 
Pompeo, and let's get to work achieving what could be lasting peace on 
the Korean Peninsula. That time is now, and I urge my colleagues to 
take the opportunity for peace.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The 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 PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.