[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 94 (Wednesday, June 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, yesterday the Senate voted to confirm 
Andrew Saul of New York to serve as Commissioner of Social Security and 
voted to advance several more highly qualified nominees.
  Today we will vote to confirm three other executive branch nominees 
to important posts at the Departments of State and Interior and at the 
CFTC, and we will advance three more judicial nominees to fill seats on 
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the 
Court of Federal Claims.
  So the Senate continues to clear the backlog left by more than 2 
years of systematic delays and obstruction that extended even to 
nominees with major bipartisan support--impressive, unobjectionable 
individuals who had spent months and, in some cases, well over a year 
on the Executive Calendar were finally granted straightforward votes. 
The modest rules change the Senate adopted this spring is already 
making a change.
  In 48 session days, from January through April, we were able to 
confirm just 23 nominees. But in the 20 days immediately following the 
modest reform, we confirmed 45, about twice as many in less than half 
the time, and, of course, the number of confirmations has continued to 
climb in the weeks since then. We need to get these folks on the job 
for the sake of the country. The President--any President--should be 
able to stand up a government. The American people deserve to be 
governed by the government they voted for.
  Many of the jobs that have been needlessly held open are not 
typically the highest profile positions, but they are still hugely 
important. As I said yesterday, until we confirm David Schenker later 
today, his confirmation to hold the top Middle East job at the State 
Department will have been held up for more than a year. This is the 
Middle East position at the State Department. Yet, as the cloture vote 
indicated, this qualified nominee carries overwhelming support. The 
nomination has been held by Democrats for political purposes. It had 
nothing to do with the nominee or his qualifications for the position. 
Given the crisis ranging from Libya to Yemen and almost everywhere in 
between, it is past time to have an Assistant Secretary for Near East 
Affairs confirmed and on the job.
  Later today we will also confirm Susan Combs to serve as Assistant 
Secretary of the Interior. Her noncontroversial nomination has been 
pending in the Senate since July. Listen to this: since July of 2017--2 
years, 700 days, just shy of 2 years. But starting tomorrow, she will 
finally be on the job.
  These are the kinds of nominees who once would have moved swiftly 
through the Senate and certainly by voice vote. I wish we could 
rediscover that tradition, but one way or another, we will continue to 
make progress.

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