[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3179-S3180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              Nominations

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, this week, the Senate will consider 
another batch of well-qualified nominees. These are men and women who 
have chosen to serve the American people in a variety of ways 
throughout the Federal Government, and we owe it to them to get them 
off the Senate calendar and on the job.
  Among the nominees we are considering this week is Susan Combs, who, 
as the Presiding Officer knows, is a fellow Texan who has been 
nominated to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management 
and Budget at the Department of the Interior. Susan has led an 
impressive career in both the public and private sectors and has served 
our State as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, then as 
the first female agriculture commissioner, and, later, as the Texas 
comptroller of public accounts.
  In each job, she gained the respect of virtually everyone she worked 
with. So, for those who know Susan, her nomination has come as no 
surprise. What is surprising, though, is how long it has taken her to 
reach this point and be confirmed. She was nominated in July of 2017. 
Within 1 month, she testified before the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources, and she received unanimous support. Suffice it to 
say, her nomination was not controversial. So why has it taken 2 years 
for her to get a vote on the Senate floor?

[[Page S3180]]

  Unfortunately, our colleagues across the aisle have pulled every 
trick in the book to slow down the nominations process, not because 
they have objected to a particular nominee or because a nominee has 
been unqualified, but because it has been part of a broader effort to 
stymie the President and this administration and bring the work of this 
body to a crawl.
  With each day that has passed since the President has been 
inaugurated, the growing backlog of nominations has allowed hundreds of 
important positions throughout the Federal Government to have remained 
vacant. That is not fair to the people who have been nominated; that is 
not fair to the administration; and it is particularly not fair to the 
American people, whom these individuals are to serve.
  A couple of months ago, we passed a modest rules change that broke 
the logjam, at least to some extent, and allowed us to finally begin to 
make some much needed progress. In the, roughly, 3 months prior to the 
rules change, we were able to confirm only 23 nominees. In the, 
roughly, 2 months since, we have more than doubled that number. We have 
begun to fill dozens of positions, including those of Federal judges, 
ambassadorships, and sub-Cabinet officials at various Departments and 
Agencies. Two weeks ago, we confirmed the 41st circuit court judge 
since President Trump took office, and we are making progress on 
filling more judicial vacancies.
  As we approach the 2-year anniversary of Susan Combs' nomination 
having been sent to the Senate, I am glad we can finally vote on her 
confirmation and continue our work to confirm well-qualified nominees.