[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 41 (Thursday, March 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1729-S1730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of John Fleming

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise in support of the nomination of 
John Fleming to serve as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic 
Development.
  The Assistant Secretary serves as the Administrator of the Economic 
Development Administration, the EDA. It is the only Federal Agency 
focused exclusively on economic development. It works directly with 
communities in regions to help them build capacity for economic 
development based on local business conditions as well as needs.
  As a physician, entrepreneur, businessman, military veteran, and 
four-term Member of Congress, Dr. Fleming is incredibly well qualified 
to lead the EDA. Dr. Fleming has launched several companies, which 
today employ over 500 people in Louisiana. Dr. Fleming's nomination has 
drawn praise from numerous political, educational, and economic 
development leaders in his home State of Louisiana.
  Don Pierson, the Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, wrote:

       Dr. Fleming has been instrumental in the development and 
     execution of projects, which have taken root in Northwest 
     Louisiana and spread across the United States.

  He goes on to say:

       His experience in public policy, business and his military 
     background serve as the right attributes for leading economic 
     development efforts.

  The Environment and Public Works Committee reported Dr. Fleming's 
nomination favorably to the Senate with a substantial bipartisan 
majority, and we have done it twice, first on October 1, 2018, during 
the 115th Congress, and then next on February 5 of this year, after he 
was renominated this Congress. Under normal circumstances, Dr. Fleming 
would have been confirmed and in office last fall. Instead, our 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle have blocked his nomination 
ever since it was first placed on the Senate Executive Calendar more 
than 155 days ago. Now, we had to file cloture and go through repeated 
delays on a well-qualified nominee who was twice reported by a 
substantial majority of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
  Dr. Fleming's treatment by our colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle is similar to the obstruction of John Ryder, whom we finally 
confirmed last week to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of 
the Tennessee Valley Authority. He had waited an unconscionable 388 
days for a vote on the Senate floor.
  In a column last Friday, the Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel 
noted that 388 days is ``100 days longer than it takes a new human 
being to come into the world.'' She continued:

       Even at the last, Democrats were stringing out the process, 
     refusing unanimous consent to a floor vote, requiring 
     Republicans to file for cloture, which entails more delay.

  Then she points out that ``after all that, [Mr. Ryder] was 
confirmed--by a voice vote with no audible dissent.''
  Let's not delay any longer. Let's stop this spectacle of obstructing 
well-qualified nominees solely for obstruction's sake. I urge my 
colleagues to vote with me in support of the nomination of John Fleming 
to serve as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development 
and Administrator of the EDA.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, before I rise to speak on behalf of the 
nomination of Dr. John Fleming to be Assistant Secretary for Economic 
Development at the Department of Commerce, I remind my Republican 
friends that the pot calls the kettle black once again.
  Whatever harm or abuse has been done to this nominee or other 
nominees pales by comparison to what happened to one of the most 
distinguished judges in America, Merrick Garland, who was nominated, 
literally, a year before the end of the last President's 
administration. He never got a hearing, never got a vote, no 
committee--none of that. There are no clean hands.
  Mr. President, I am pleased to rise in support of the nomination of 
John

[[Page S1730]]

Fleming to be our Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at the 
Department of Commerce. In that role, Dr. Fleming would oversee the 
Economic Development Administration--we call it the EDA. In my home 
State, we benefited a great deal from EDA in recent years. We are 
grateful for them. EDA provides money used to leverage other moneys for 
economic development purposes. If I had more time, I would be able to 
give you some good examples.
  When Dr. Fleming was a Member of the House of Representatives, he 
voted repeatedly to eliminate the Economic Development Administration. 
That is why I initially held deep reservations about his nomination. 
When Dr. Fleming and I met before his hearing last year, he assuaged 
most of my concerns. In the end, I decided to vote my hopes over my 
fears and voted to approve his nomination out of committee. Today I 
will again vote in support of his nomination.
  As the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee 
in the Senate, I will work to ensure that EDA programs are protected 
and promoted, and I hope Dr. Fleming will be leading in those efforts. 
Today I will be leading the efforts to get him confirmed for his post 
and put him to work.
  The last thing I would say, if I have a few more seconds--I think I 
may. One of the things I do is customer calls, and I suspect the 
Presiding Officer does this back in his home State of Indiana. I do 
them often. I visit businesses large and small. I ask three questions: 
How are you doing? How are we doing? What can we do to help?
  One of the questions I asked once while visiting a large auto 
dealership was, how are you doing?
  He said: Well, you know, we sell plenty of vehicles, but we have a 
hard time attracting and getting people to work as technicians to 
maintain the vehicles we sell.
  I said: Maybe you need to pay them more money.
  He said: No, we start people at about $50,000 and pay them up to 
$80,000, $90,000 a year.
  I said: You are still having a hard time attracting people?
  He said: Yes, we are.
  We worked with EDA to get a Federal grant to create a center for 
automotive excellence in the middle of Delaware, in the Delmarva 
Peninsula. They are working with Delaware Technical and Community 
College, and a year from now they expect to open that Center for 
Automotive Excellence and provide the workforce that is needed not just 
in Delaware by our auto dealers but by companies that have large trucks 
and similar kinds of employers throughout the Delmarva Peninsula, in 
the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Virginia, and throughout the State of 
Delaware. That is the kind of thing EDA can do to help.
  We are excited about this prospect and looking forward to meeting our 
workforce needs and grateful for the assistance of this Federal Agency, 
which Dr. Fleming has been nominated to head. I hope he will have that 
opportunity. We will vote in just a few minutes.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PAUL. We yield back all time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. I am happy to yield back. I think we have 1\1/2\ minutes 
left. I am happy to yield it back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
  Mr. PAUL. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Fleming 
nomination?
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Kansas (Mr. Moran) and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Perdue).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) 
would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Jones) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 67, nays 30, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 40 Ex.]

                                YEAS--67

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Paul
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--30

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Durbin
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murray
     Peters
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Jones
     Moran
     Perdue
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas are a 67, the nays are 30.
  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 majority leader is recognized.

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