[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 123 (Monday, July 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5116-S5117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NOMINATION OF ROBERT WILKIE

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, on another note, we will vote today on the 
nomination of Robert Wilkie to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
  Mr. Wilkie brings to this position a firsthand understanding of the 
mental and physical demands of military life. The son of an Army 
commander who was wounded in Cambodia during the Vietnam war, he said 
his father's recovery was at the forefront of his mind when he was 
offered the position at the Veterans Health Administration. He himself 
is an Air Force Reserve officer who has spent three decades helping to 
shape military policy.
  In fact, he started out his career in this very Chamber and worked, 
most recently, for our friend from North Carolina, Senator Tillis. He 
holds a law degree and multiple master's degrees, but he has had real-
world experience as the Under Secretary of Defense

[[Page S5117]]

for Personnel and Readiness, as Assistant Secretary of Defense, and as 
Senior Director of the National Security Council. Those are positions 
of great responsibility and great importance. My home State of Texas is 
home to 1 in 12 veterans, so having a well-functioning Veterans Health 
Administration is crucial to my State.
  Mr. Wilkie, I believe, has the experience, the compassion, and the 
drive to make sure our Department of Veterans Affairs can efficiently 
and effectively serve those who have served in uniform, to whom we owe 
a moral duty. No nominee for this position has ever received a ``no'' 
vote on the Senate floor, and my hope is, we continue that tradition 
during the vote today.
  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. NELSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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