[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 48 (Monday, March 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1511-S1512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



              Nominations of Lisa Monaco and Vanita Gupta

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last week, my friend and colleague, the 
senior Senator from Texas, came to the floor to speak about two highly 
qualified nominees seeking senior positions in President Biden's 
Justice Department--Lisa Monaco and Vanita Gupta.
  I was pleased to hear Senator Cornyn express support for Lisa Monaco. 
She is nominated to be the Deputy Attorney General. She has vast 
experience and deep ties to the Department. She has served in multiple 
roles as both a career employee and a Senate-confirmed official. She is 
also someone who has predicted and responded to several of the greatest 
threats of our time, including global pandemics and the rise of 
domestic terrorism. She has what it takes to serve as the No. 2 person 
in the Department of Justice and along with the Attorney General, 
Merrick Garland, to restore independence and integrity in that 
Department.

[[Page S1512]]

  Unfortunately, my friend from Texas went on to take a different view 
when it came to Vanita Gupta, who has been nominated to be an Associate 
Attorney General, the No. 3 position at the Department. Every Senator, 
of course, has the right to oppose any nominee, even though many of my 
colleagues across the aisle have spoken about the importance of 
deferring to President Biden and his choices to lead his Cabinet.
  But when opposition turns from beyond just feeling negative toward 
someone to stating things about that person that may not be altogether 
accurate, I feel obligated to come to the floor and correct the record. 
I would like to address a few of the false attacks that are being 
leveled against Ms. Gupta.
  She unequivocally stated in her testimony under oath before the 
Judiciary Committee last week that she opposes defunding the police. 
Any suggestion to the contrary is patently false. We have seen 
statement after statement from law enforcement organizations that 
support Vanita Gupta and her nomination. They admitted plainly that 
they know she doesn't call for defunding the police.
  Yet we also continue to see statement after statement from Republican 
Senators and many of their allies buying television ads claiming the 
contrary. Ask yourself this basic question: If Vanita Gupta wants to 
defund the police, how would she get the support and endorsement of the 
Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Chiefs of 
Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, National Sheriffs' 
Association, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and others? 
I think we know the answer. She doesn't want to defund the police. It 
is simply something that is said about her that is not true.
  But what Ms. Gupta has called for and what she reiterated before the 
Committee on the Judiciary last week is making sure that police 
officers, the men and women who put themselves in harm's way every day, 
are not called upon to be mental health counselors. Some may have that 
skill, but most are not trained in that field, and it is not why they 
signed up for the job.
  As Ms. Gupta explained at her hearing, we have spent far too long 
laying too many of our Nation's social problems at the feet of police--
no matter what goes wrong in the neighborhood, on the street, in the 
household--call 9-1-1. From homelessness to mental health issues to 
substance abuse disorders, they all fall on the laps of our law 
enforcement officials. This is something that police officers, police 
chiefs, county sheriffs, and civil rights advocates agree on, finding 
the right person can be critical in an intervention.
  Ms. Gupta is a consensus builder, and the consensus from law 
enforcement is this: Confirm Vanita Gupta.
  My friend from Texas also suggested there was something amiss in Ms. 
Gupta's response to his question on whether she supported 
decriminalizing drugs. He asked her this at the hearing: ``Is it true 
that you advocate decriminalization of all drugs?'' Ms. Gupta, under 
oath, responded: ``No, Senator, I do not.''
  My friend from Texas suggested this answer was misleading, given that 
Ms. Gupta wrote 9 years ago that she would support decriminalizing the 
possession of small amounts of drugs.
  There was nothing misleading about her response. The question was 
posed in the present tense. It was not limited to decriminalizing 
possession. More importantly, as she eloquently explained at the 
hearing, Ms. Gupta's position on decriminalizing drug possession had 
changed due to her family's own experience with opioid addiction. She 
did something that far too few people in Washington are willing to do. 
She acknowledged that she had changed her mind.
  I have done that, too, as an elected official. Sometimes people call 
me on it, and, luckily, I can turn to a good source for rebuttal. You 
see, Abraham Lincoln spent many years in politics, and he was once 
accused of changing his mind on an issue, and he replied: Yes, it is 
true, I changed my position on that issue, but I would rather be right 
some of the time than wrong all the time. That is the way I feel about 
being honest if you change your mind based on new information, new 
experience, or thinking it through from a different angle.
  My friend from Texas also suggested that Ms. Gupta somehow wanted to 
follow her own personal convictions rather than the law. That is not 
true. Ms. Gupta is a Justice Department veteran. She spent 3 years 
leading the Civil Rights Division. She enforced the law regardless of 
her personal views, and she will do the same as Associate Attorney 
General.
  Senator Cornyn suggested that Ms. Gupta harbors personal views that 
are hostile to police. I won't recount again all the police 
organizations that have endorsed her. But he omits the fact that she 
has already served in the Justice Department. And what was the verdict 
on her time in the Department? These police groups believe in her. They 
like her approach. They think she is fair. They have endorsed her. I 
hope my friends on the Republican side of the aisle will acknowledge 
that.

  Unlike the prior administration, President Biden has nominated senior 
Justice Department leaders who are driven by fidelity to the rule of 
law. They understand their role at the Department as officials who 
enforce the law, and they will do so. Ms. Gupta is no exception.
  Next week, we will vote on Ms. Gupta's nomination in committee. She 
has broad bipartisan support across the Nation--law enforcement, 
Justice Department officials of both parties, civil rights groups, even 
some of the most conservative Republican advocates, they back Ms. 
Gupta. She deserves that same bipartisan support here in the Senate.