[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 154 (Tuesday, September 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the next nomination.
  The senior assistant bill clerk read the nomination of Daniel Habib 
Jorjani, of Kentucky, to be Solicitor of the Department of the 
Interior.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I want to address a matter relating to 
the nomination of Daniel Jorjani to be Solicitor at the Department of 
Interior. In March, I joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Interior 
raising concerns about proposed updates to its Freedom of Information 
Act, FOIA, regulations. These changes appeared to shift the burden of 
identifying the location of agency hold records from the agency to the 
public, set limits on requests when they involve processing a ``vast 
quantity of material,'' and imposed a monthly limit on the processing 
of records for a given requester--all of which have no identifiable 
basis in the FOIA statute. Since then, reports indicated other 
concerning FOIA policies at Interior that could result in unlawful 
delays of FOIA responses--policies that were in place while Mr. Jorjani 
served as Deputy Solicitor, with key FOIA responsibilities. Over the 
weekend, Interior's inspector general confirmed an investigation into 
the FOIA process at Interior. I look forward to reading the results of 
this investigation and learning more about the development of these 
policies. If confirmed as Solicitor at Interior, Mr. Jorjani would 
oversee and resolve FOIA appeals, among other critically important 
transparency policies. As we have seen in successive administrations, 
FOIA requests are often viewed as the skunk at the picnic. But the 
government's business is the people's business. Going forward, Mr. 
Jorjani would do well to consult with Congress on any FOIA policy 
matters at Interior to ensure compliance with the law. I intend to vote 
for Mr. Jorjani today, but let me be clear: I will be holding him--and 
any others under any administration--accountable to faithful compliance 
with both the letter and spirit of FOIA.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Jorjani nomination?
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from California (Ms. Harris), the Senator from Alabama (Mr. 
Jones), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 51, nays 43, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 300 Ex.]

                                YEAS--51

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--43

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--6

     Booker
     Harris
     Jones
     Sanders
     Tillis
     Whitehouse
  The nomination was confirmed.

                          ____________________