[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 169 (Thursday, October 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Eric Dreiband

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to oppose the nomination of Eric 
Dreiband to be the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights 
Division of the Justice Department.
  Mr. Dreiband has no experience working on many of the most important 
duties of the Civil Rights Division, such as protecting voting rights, 
combating hate crimes, and ensuring that police departments respect the 
Constitution and civil rights laws.
  Instead, he has extensive experience representing corporations who 
have been accused of employment discrimination and advocating against 
legislation to protect civil rights.
  In his personal capacity, he has testified against the Lilly 
Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act and against legislation to protect 
older workers from discrimination.
  We need a head of the Civil Rights Division who will demonstrate 
independence and a willingness to preserve the right to vote and civil 
rights laws in the face of this administration's regressive agenda.
  I am not confident that Mr. Dreiband will be the independent leader 
that the Civil Rights Division needs. I cannot support his nomination.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise to oppose the nomination of 
Eric Dreiband to serve as Assistant Attorney General of the Civil 
Rights Division. His nomination is an affront to the mission of the 
Civil Rights Division, the career attorneys, and to everyone in our 
country dedicated to advancing civil rights.
  Created in 1957, the mission of the Civil Rights Division is to 
``enforce[e] federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis 
of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national 
origin.'' The Civil Rights Division has been indispensable in helping 
our country combat housing discrimination, voting rights abuses, and 
hate crimes. It has also intervened in cases of police misconduct in 
certain situations.
  Mr. Dreiband is the wrong person to lead the Civil Rights Division. 
He has spent his entire career advocating for weaker antidiscrimination 
laws. He has testified in Congress against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay 
Act, the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, and ban-
the-box regulations.
  Looking at this record, Mr. Dreiband will do more to undermine than 
to protect efforts to prevent discrimination. How can someone devoted 
to fighting against antidiscriminatory laws now be charged with leading 
an agency that enforces antidiscrimination laws? It is almost as if the 
Trump administration is ``trolling'' the agency itself with Mr. 
Dreiband's nomination.
  Unfortunately, under Attorney General Sessions, the Department of 
Justice has already rolled back Obama-era guidance that terminated the 
Federal Government's use of private prisons, helped protect vulnerable 
transgender students, and the Cole memo which allowed prosecutorial 
discretion in sentencing for drug cases. Mr. Dreiband's record suggests 
he will continue these attacks on civil rights.
  The Assistant Attorney General of Civil Rights Division should be 
someone that will vigorously protect minority rights and aggressively 
expand civil rights for all Americans. Mr. Dreiband has shown that he 
is not that person.
  THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, all postcloture time 
has expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Eric S. Dreiband, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Attorney General?
  Mr. CASSIDY. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Florida (Mr. Rubio).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) 
would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from North Dakota (Ms. 
Heitkamp) and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson) are necessarily 
absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tillis). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 50, nays 47, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 230 Ex.]

                                YEAS--50

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Flake
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kyl
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Sasse
     Scott
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--47

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Heitkamp
     Nelson
     Rubio
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.

                          ____________________