[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 199 (Thursday, December 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7008-S7009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     NOMINATION OF AURELIA SKIPWITH

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I want to share with the Senate my reasons 
for opposing the nomination of Aurelia Skipwith to serve as the 
Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  Let me begin by saying that I am disappointed to find myself in this 
position. When I had the privilege of serving as Governor of Delaware, 
I was able to assemble my own leadership team, so I appreciate how 
important it is that people in executive positions, including 
Presidents, have that same ability.
  However, in article II of the Constitution, our Founders set up a 
system in which the President would nominate individuals to the top 
posts in our government and Senators would provide ``advice and 
consent'' on those nominees.
  In order for the Senate to fulfill that constitutional role, those 
nominated individuals must cooperate with the confirmation process. 
And, unfortunately, Ms. Skipwith has not provided information requested 
by the Democrats during the nomination process.
  Despite my repeated requests for the nominee to be more forthcoming--
requests made twice in writing and twice in person. during her 
nomination process--Ms. Skipwith has refused. Instead, she has given me 
the impression that she does not take this confirmation process 
seriously.
  Her lack of candor has elevated questions that already existed about 
her qualifications, her commitment to environmental conservation and 
whether she can ethically lead the Fish and Wildlife Service.
  Therefore, I cannot support this nomination.
  Ms. Skipwith first joined the Trump administration in April 2017. 
when she was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Fish and 
Wildlife and Parks, a non-Senate-confirmed political appointment at the 
Department of the Interior.
  During her tenure there, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed and 
finalized controversial regulations that drastically altered 
implementation of the Endangered Species Act.
  The Service has also issued a legal opinion that changes the way the 
Department of the Interior enforces the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 
Former senior Interior officials from every administration since the 
early 1970s, both Republican and Democrat, have strongly opposed this 
Migratory Bird Treaty Act legal opinion. At her confirmation hearing, 
Ms. Skipwith vehemently defended it.
  Prior to her controversial tenure at the Interior Department, Ms. 
Skipwith had no previous work experience related to conservation or 
wildlife management--none.
  By contrast, the 16 individuals who previously served as Fish and 
Wildlife Service Directors for both Republican and Democratic 
Presidents had an estimated average of 12 years of experience at the 
Fish and Wildlife Service before taking on the Director role. They also 
have an estimated average of more than 22 years of professional 
experience in fields related to wildlife or fisheries management.
  Ms. Skipwith has also not seemed to make up for her lack of previous 
experience while on the job. At her confirmation hearing, when asked to 
name the conservation scientist who had most influenced her career and 
her approach to wildlife and fisheries management, Ms. Skipwith 
struggled to name any conservation scientist. Ultimately, she named a 
former Monsanto vice president with whom she used to work, but she 
misremembered his name.
  This was not an insignificant misstep. To me, it was revealing. Ms. 
Skipwith's response to my simple question represented a clear lack of 
familiarity with the basics of wildlife management, a troubling quality 
for a Fish and Wildlife Director nominee.
  By contrast, Ms. Skipwith does have significant experience in the 
agribusiness industry. Before joining the Trump administration, she 
worked for Monsanto, one of the world's largest agrochemical firms. 
Monsanto regularly has business interests before the Interior 
Department. She also worked for Alltech, a Kentucky-based agricultural 
products company.
  She also co-founded AVC Global, an agribusiness-technology start up, 
and was employed by Gage International, a Washington, DC, based 
lobbying firm founded by her fiance.
  That is why even before her confirmation hearing, I asked Ms. 
Skipwith some basic questions about how these companies operate and

[[Page S7009]]

whether Ms. Skipwith has recused herself from working on those issues. 
Unfortunately, Ms. Skipwith has refused to answer those questions.
  She has repeatedly refused to provide her calendars with the 
appointments she has had as a Department of the Interior official. This 
information could be made available to any member of the public under 
the Freedom of Information Act, but she has refused to provide it to me 
for months within the confirmation process.
  This information is important because Ms. Skipwith's former employer, 
Gage International, has represented water utilities that have lobbied 
Congress to weaken Western water policy and the Endangered Species Act.
  Unanswered questions also remain about Ms. Skipwith's role in the 
development of a controversial repeal of an existing ban on using 
pesticides that have been shown to harm birds and bees in national 
wildlife refuges. And one of the largest producers of these pesticides 
is Monsanto, another one of Ms. Skipwith's former employers.
  Yet when Senator Gillibrand asked Ms. Skipwith about her role in the 
ban's repeal, Ms. Skipwith defended the reversal but denied any role in 
the decision. This answer does not appear to be consistent with some of 
the email records that have been obtained under Freedom of Information 
Act, which show that she expressed interest in the matter and received 
materials on the issue from career staff.
  If Ms. Skipwith was indeed involved with the decision to reverse the 
pesticides ban, it would constitute a violation of the ethics pledge 
she signed when she joined the Department. An examination of Ms. 
Skipwith's calendar entries could clear up these outstanding questions, 
but her lack of cooperation makes that impossible.
  This lack of being forthcoming is troubling, not only because it 
undermines the Senate's advice and consent role for Presidential 
nominees, but it also because it demonstrates the nominee's may not be 
cooperative when it comes to congressional oversight.
  I have found that, when a nominee is unwilling to provide information 
as part of their confirmation process, they almost always prove to be 
even more defiant to congressional oversight requests after they are 
confirmed.
  I urge my colleagues. especially my Republican colleagues, to take 
this matter seriously. In fact, I would urge my Republican colleagues 
to remember these words spoken by my friend, former Congressman Trey 
Gowdy of South Carolina.
  In June 2012, during the House Oversight and Government Reform 
Committee contempt proceedings against Attorney General Holder, then 
Congressman Gowdy said: ``The notion that you can withhold information 
and documents from Congress no matter whether you are the party in 
power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean 
something, irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles.''
  Eventually, whether it is in 1 year or in 4 years or in 8, we will 
eventually have another Democratic administration. And when that time 
comes, Republicans in Congress will want officials in that Democratic 
administration to answer questions and respond to congressional 
oversight requests.
  I fear that my Senate colleagues will find the process completely 
broken by then if we continue undermining our duty as Senators to both 
provide advice and consent on Presidential nomination and to conduct 
congressional oversight.
  This clear defiance of our sworn constitutional duty and 
congressional oversight role diminishes the Senate, weakens our 
intricate system of checks and balances, and undermines the trust of 
the American people.
  Beyond her lack of qualifications and her questionable role in some 
of this administration's major conservation policies, there are too 
many troubling concerns and questions about this nominee that remain 
unaddressed or unanswered.
  Therefore, I will be opposing this nomination, and I encourage my 
colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote 
that was going to start at 11:45 a.m. start now.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Skipwith 
nomination?
  Mr. GRASSLEY. 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 bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul), 
the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), and the Senator from Alabama 
(Mr. Shelby).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth), the Senator from Minnesota 
(Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the 
Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 52, nays 39, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 395 Ex.]

                                YEAS--52

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

                                NAYS--39

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

                             NOT VOTING--9

     Booker
     Burr
     Duckworth
     Isakson
     Klobuchar
     Paul
     Sanders
     Shelby
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.

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