[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 137 (Monday, August 3, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4664-S4665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONFIRMATION OF DEREK KAN

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I opposed the confirmation of Derek 
Kan to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. 
Kan's tenure at OMB and his responses to questions from the Senate 
Budget Committee raise serious concerns about a lack of transparency 
and a failure of leadership in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
  While Mr. Kan was the Executive Associate Director at OMB, the agency 
illegally withheld security assistance for Ukraine in furtherance of 
President Trump's corrupt scheme to pressure Ukraine to interfere on 
President Trump's behalf in the 2020 election. On August 12, 2019, OMB 
General Counsel Mark Paoletta sent an email to Mr. Kan and other top 
OMB officials regarding concerns from the Department of Defense about 
this withholding, an email that made headlines when it was revealed 
publicly. While I specifically asked Mr. Kan about this email in 
written questions prior to the hearing, Mr. Kan claimed during the 
hearing that he was not familiar with the email in question.

[[Page S4665]]

  The Government Accountability Office found that OMB violated the 
Impoundment Control Act by withholding security assistance from 
Ukraine, and GAO also stated that OMB's stonewalling of their inquiry 
had ``constitutional significance'' due to the undermining of 
legislative branch oversight. Mr. Kan, like OMB Director Russell Vought 
during his confirmation hearing, refused to even provide a reason for 
why OMB did not turn over any documents in response to GAO's request 
for documents to substantiate OMB's claim that a policy process was the 
reason for withholding aid to Ukraine. In response to my questions 
following the hearing, Mr. Kan referred the matter to the office of OMB 
General Counsel Mark Paoletta, the same official whose response to 
GAO's inquiry failed to turn over any such documents in the first 
place.
  I am also concerned about Mr. Kan's leadership as a member of the 
President's Coronavirus Task Force. On February 5, 2020, Mr. Kan told 
Senators that the Trump administration did not need additional 
resources to address the coronavirus, which contributed to the deadly 
lack of preparation as the pandemic spread in the United States. During 
his confirmation hearing, Mr. Kan would not say whether he agreed with 
President Trump about reducing testing for coronavirus or whether 
President Trump was setting a good example by holding large indoor 
rallies at which masks were not required.
  For those reasons, I voted against Mr. Kan's confirmation to be 
Deputy Director at OMB.

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