[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 156 (Thursday, September 26, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Nomination of General John E. Hyten

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, Gen. John Hyten is before the Senate today 
to be confirmed. We are anxious to get to this. It has been a long time 
in the working. It is going to happen, and I am very thankful, not just 
for the sake of General Hyten but for other officers and junior 
officers who are looking at a future, knowing some of the problems that 
exist out there.
  I have stood in this very spot and talked about exactly what our 
Nation is dealing with when it comes to our national security. The 
world is more dangerous now than it has ever been in my lifetime. China 
and Russia are building their capabilities as we have fallen behind.
  Our national defense strategy lays it all out. We have a document 
that we use. This is our blueprint. It is one that was put together by 
Democrats and Republicans some time ago, and we have adhered to it. As 
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I have adhered to it 
and will continue to do that.
  As the Department of Defense and the administration implement the 
national defense strategy and the recommendations of the NDS 
Commission, we need confirmed leadership at the Joint Chiefs to provide 
the military perspective. We need strong, innovative leadership, 
someone who understands strategy, competition, new warfighting domains 
like space, and the importance of a strong nuclear deterrent. We need 
strategic guidance born from years of firsthand experience.
  To me, there is no doubt that General Hyten is the right man for the 
second highest ranking military office. Throughout his service, General 
Hyten has developed a reputation of discipline, integrity, and honor. 
For the past 2\1/2\ years, he has led STRATCOM, where he has 
demonstrated shrewd and decisive understanding of our national security 
objectives.
  Before that, he served honorably in top leadership positions at Air 
Force Space Command. He has willingly and selflessly served this Nation 
in uniform for nearly four decades. I am confident he is going to keep 
us on a path to rebuild our military advantage and protect our civilian 
military relations in all this.
  The Senate considered his nomination yesterday on a 20-to-7 vote to 
advance General Hyten's nomination, and here we are today making this 
final decision. This came after a fair, exhaustive, bipartisan process, 
where we closely reviewed his nomination, including allegations against 
him. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations ran a tight and 
thorough investigation.
  Now, in all my years I have been here, I have never seen one of those 
more exhaustive than this one. It went on and on and on, and all the 
members of the committee were able to read every document that is out 
there. I am very proud of the committee for taking the deliberate time 
to make this happen. The committee held five executive sessions, 
studied thousands of pages of investigative records, and reviewed 
statements from more than 50 witnesses. Every member had the 
opportunity to ask questions and to read all the documents. We did it.
  The Armed Services Committee made available all the information to 
make sure there was nothing that was overlooked. The Armed Services 
Committee takes allegations of sexual assault very seriously, and it 
has for many years. It is a problem. It is a problem we are addressing 
on a regular basis. We are on it, and we are going to resolve it.
  We went through a period of time in the last administration when the 
military was taken down in a manner that has never happened before. It 
was unprecedented. We actually went, in the last 5 years of the Obama 
administration, to cutting the military by 25 percent. It has never 
happened before. Now we are going through a rebuilding process. I 
applaud this President for all he is doing in rebuilding our military. 
I am proud of him, and that is where we are right now.
  Through the NDAA and stringent oversight of the Department's efforts 
to this end, we are putting a stop to any kind of misconduct that we 
have been talking about. We can't stop a nomination from going forward 
on unproven allegations, especially ones we examined with the utmost of 
care and closest scrutiny and determined not to have merit.
  So we are about to do this--about to get this position confirmed. It 
is overdue. I urge my colleagues to support this nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Hyten 
nomination?
  Mr. INHOFE. 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 75, nays 22, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 312 Ex.]

                                YEAS--75

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

                                NAYS--22

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Casey
     Duckworth
     Ernst
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hirono
     Klobuchar
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murray
     Peters
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Booker
     Sanders
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.

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