[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 37 (Thursday, February 28, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1568-S1569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will 
report.
  The bill clerk read the nomination of John L. Ryder, of Tennessee, to 
be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority 
for a term expiring May 18, 2021.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  (The remarks of Mr. Grassley pertaining to the introduction of S. 617 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, in a few minutes, we will be voting on 
the President's nomination of John Ryder, of Memphis, to be a member of 
the Board of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  To those of us in the seven State region that the TVA serves, it is a 
very important institution. Its job is to provide large amounts of 
reliable, low-cost electricity, which is the basis for how we live and 
how we work. It has a lot to do with our ability to attract jobs. Its 
job is to provide that energy in a clean way so we can see our 
mountains and so we meet the emissions standards in our metropolitan 
areas that allow us to attract and grow more jobs.
  The TVA is fulfilling its mission very well. It is heading toward a 
position in which it will be about 40-percent nuclear in its production 
of electricity, about 20 percent in natural gas, and about 20 percent 
in coal or a little less than that. It will have pollution control 
equipment on all of its coal plants. Most of the rest is hydroelectric 
power, and a little bit is renewable. In short, it has one of the 
cleanest portfolios in the country, and it is continuing to do that and 
is producing a lot of low-cost, reliable electricity.
  We are very fortunate to be in a region in which, as we look down the 
road 5, 10, or 15 years, we will be able to say to people who are 
thinking of moving themselves to Tennessee or moving their businesses 
to Tennessee or growing them there that they will be able to get a lot 
of reliable, low-cost electricity--all that they need. In addition to 
that, they will be able to see the Smoky Mountains because the air is a 
lot cleaner now that they have such a clean portfolio.
  So John Ryder's appointment is a very important appointment, and he 
is a well-qualified man for that position. He is one of Tennessee's 
best known lawyers and has been for a long time. Since the late 1980s, 
he has been listed as one of Tennessee's best lawyers. He is well 
respected by everyone who knows him.
  Senator Corker and I recommended him to President Trump, and we know 
him well. Senator Blackburn, who is Senator Corker's successor, has a 
high regard for John Ryder. All of us appreciate his willingness to 
serve, and we look forward to the voice vote we are going to have in a 
few minutes that will place him on TVA's Board. The Board has just 
selected a new chief executive officer. TVA is the largest public 
utility in the United States, perhaps in the world. It is an important 
assignment, and it is one I am delighted to recommend him for.
  There is one other thing, but I will not dwell on this because I 
spoke on this Monday night. Unfortunately, Mr. Ryder has been on the 
Senate's calendar for 9 months. He was nominated by President Trump a 
year ago. The problem has not been with Mr. Ryder because, as I said, 
President Trump nominated him after he was thoroughly vetted by the 
FBI. The Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee considered 
him, had a hearing, and reported him unanimously to the floor. Yet, for 
9 months, he waited there.
  One reason is, the Democrats have consistently obstructed the ability 
of Senator McConnell and the Republican majority to help President 
Trump form his government. The Democrats have required 128 times that 
Senator McConnell, the majority leader, file cloture motions to cut off 
debate to advance a nomination like Mr. Ryder's.
  Now, this is not a Cabinet position. This is not a lifetime judge. 
This is the part-time Board of an important institution. He is one of 
1,200 Presidential nominees that any President has who is subject to 
confirmation by advice and consent. It is the kind of nomination by 
which, if a committee unanimously reports it to the Senate, we will 
normally approve it by voice vote. Yet, on this vote, Senator McConnell 
was forced to file cloture a week ago. Then we had to wait an 
intervening day. Only then could we come to this vote.
  This is not the way the Senate is supposed to work, and this 
obstruction has to stop. Senator Blunt and Senator Lankford have 
introduced a resolution, which has been reported to the Senate by the 
rules committee, that would cause us to adopt a rule very much like the 
one we adopted in 2013, when I worked with a large number of Democrats 
and Republicans for the sole purpose of making it easier for President 
Obama--and his successors--to promptly confirm the men and women whom 
he chose to form a government.
  It received 78 votes. What we did at that time was simply say: You 
still keep the cloture motion, and you still wait an intervening day if 
you need it, but we reduce the postcloture time--not for Supreme Court 
Justices, not for circuit judges--simply for sub-Cabinet members and 
for district judges. We would reduce sub-Cabinet members to 8 hours and 
district judges to 2 hours.
  On Monday night, I invited my Democratic friends to work with me in 
2019 the way I worked with them in 2013. In a bipartisan way, let's 
make sure the Senate can do what it has historically done--to have 
promptly considered and voted up or down, with 51 votes, the nominees 
of any President of the United States for the 1,200 positions that form 
the government.
  There have been some conversations. I hope Senator Blunt and Senator 
Lankford will continue to have those conversations with the Democratic 
Members, but there are nine Democratic Senators, by my count, who are 
seeking to be the next President of the United States. I hope they can 
look 20 months down the road and realize that

[[Page S1569]]

just one Republican Senator could do to them, if one of them were to 
become President, what the Democrats have done to President Trump. It 
would be very difficult for the next Democratic President, if there 
were to be one, to form a government. We don't want that to happen. 
That diminishes the advice and consent role of the Senate. It fills up 
the government with appointees who are acting and whom we don't know, 
and they are not really accountable to us. That is not the way this 
place is supposed to work.
  So I renew my invitation to my Democratic friends to work with me the 
way a number of us worked with them in 2011, in 2012, and in 2013. 
Let's change the rules in the right way. Let's basically adopt 
virtually the same rule we adopted in 2013 and allow this President and 
any President to get prompt consideration and up-or-down votes of their 
nominees.
  I congratulate Mr. Ryder on his confirmation. I am grateful for his 
willingness to serve, and I am sorry he had to wait so long for the 
opportunity. The people of Tennessee and the seven State region will be 
much better off for his service within this important institution.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the confirmation of John 
Ryder, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley 
Authority, occur at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Ryder 
nomination?
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The Senator from Tennessee.

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