[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 154 (Tuesday, September 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5639-S5640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Daniel Habib Jorjani

  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, over the past 2\1/2\ years, we have seen a 
remarkable pattern emerge in the types of people Donald Trump nominates 
to serve in his administration. His nominees have extensive conflicts 
of interest. They work to advance the interest of foreign clients, 
financial patrons, or other special interests. In doing so, they are 
actively hostile to the very departments in which they have been 
nominated to serve.
  Daniel Jorjani--the President's nominee to serve as Solicitor of the 
Department of the Interior--is a classic example of this pattern. The 
DOI Solicitor is a critically important position in the Department. In 
addition to being the chief legal adviser to the Secretary, the 
Solicitor is intimately involved in developing the legal justifications 
for Department policies, defending DOI positions in court, and 
overseeing compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA.
  Given the influence the Department's Solicitor has on issues, such as 
the implementation of the Endangered Species Act, stewardship of public 
lands, and holding companies accountable for their impacts on the 
environment, it is essential that whoever occupies this job can execute 
his or her duties in a manner that upholds the public trust.
  With the nomination of Daniel Jorjani, Donald Trump has once again 
shown that he prioritizes exploiting our environment for the benefit of 
fossil fuel companies over the very real interests of the American 
people and protecting our environment.
  Prior to joining the Trump administration, Mr. Jorjani spent 7 years 
working in organizations throughout the Koch brothers' sprawling 
empire. In positions such as the general counsel of Freedom Partners, 
Mr. Jorjani assisted the Koch brothers in pursuing a relentlessly pro-
fossil fuel agenda. He fought against the Obama administration's 
actions to combat climate change and protect the environment.
  It was with precisely this experience in mind that Donald Trump 
appointed Mr. Jorjani as the Principal Deputy Solicitor and Acting 
Solicitor of DOI in 2017. During his tenure in these roles,

[[Page S5640]]

which did not require Senate confirmation, Mr. Jorjani wasted little 
time before mounting a full frontal assault on Obama-era environmental 
regulations, to the delight of his former patrons. Of the eight 
Solicitor's legal opinions that Mr. Jorjani authored, seven roll back 
Obama-era environmental regulations.
  Let me focus on one example that certainly sticks out. In a stunning 
reversal of a 2017 opinion issued by then-Solicitor Hilary Tompkins, 
Mr. Jorjani pushed to shield companies from liability for killing birds 
protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as long as it was not the 
company's intended action.
  That is like saying BP shouldn't have to pay to clean up the 
Deepwater Horizon oilspill because they didn't intend to release nearly 
5 million barrels--200 million gallons--of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. 
Clearly, companies should not be shielded from their negligence.
  Mr. Jorjani's reversal of the opinion overturned existing Department 
enforcement practices that had been in place for the past 40 years. The 
oil and gas industry had been complaining about this rule for years 
precisely because it held them accountable for their actions.
  When I asked Mr. Jorjani directly at his confirmation hearing about 
which industry benefited most from this reversal decision of his, he 
claimed: ``I'm not aware of any particular industry that benefits from 
this.''
  Who is he trying to kid? My reaction to Mr. Jorjani's shibai--or BS--
answer is that the oil and gas industries are the biggest 
beneficiaries. He knew it, and I knew it.
  Mr. Jorjani's actions are particularly alarming in light of a new 
study that found that North America has lost 3 billion birds--nearly 30 
percent of our total bird population--in the past 50 years.
  In normal times, we expect leaders of the Interior Department to 
pursue policies to mitigate the harm being done to our ecosystems and 
environment, not to do things that will actually make big problems even 
worse. But these are not normal times.
  Instead, we have yet another Trump nominee with extensive conflicts 
of interest, pursuing policies that help his former employers in a 
manner that is fundamentally hostile to the Department in which he or 
she serves.
  Fitting the Trump administration's normal pattern of corruption 
should be more than enough to deny him confirmation to this critical 
job, but Mr. Jorjani--just like his boss, Interior Secretary David 
Bernhardt--is also currently under investigation by the DOI inspector 
general.
  Mr. Jorjani is under investigation for potential misconduct related 
to his management of the Department's compliance with the Freedom of 
Information Act, or FOIA, and its so-called supplemental review policy.
  Under this policy, political appointees at the Department are 
notified about the public release of any documents containing their 
names or email addresses. This policy can be problematic even in normal 
times. It could result in political interference in the FOIA process to 
delay the release of potentially damaging information, but DOI 
allegedly has an additional internal review policy that goes even 
further. It allows Mr. Jorjani and the Department's Deputy Chief of 
Staff 5 days before release to review requested records that involve 
senior staff in the Secretary's office. This review process not only 
opens up the possibility for inappropriate delays but also allows for 
willful and blatant withholding of important information the public has 
requested.
  In response to questions at his confirmation hearing and questions 
for the record, Mr. Jorjani asserted that he ``typically did not review 
records prior to their release under the FOIA.'' However, internal 
documents released by the DOI paint a very different picture, one in 
which Mr. Jorjani was regularly involved in reviewing FOIA documents.
  At best, Mr. Jorjani was not forthcoming or candid. In fact, it 
appeared that he lied under oath.
  With a position as important as this one, the American people 
deserve, at the very least, an ethical Solicitor devoted to the mission 
of the Department, one who is not compromised by or catering to the 
narrow interests of his former employers or one who doesn't tell his 
staff, as Mr. Jorjani told his staff, that ``at the end of the day our 
job is to protect the Secretary.'' Protecting the Secretary is nowhere 
in Mr. Jorjani's job description. He is yet another Trump nominee who 
should not be confirmed by the Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. I recognize the Senator from Oregon.