[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 56 (Thursday, March 25, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1839-S1840]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask that the Chair initiate the 
agreed-upon procedures with respect to the Adeyemo nomination.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, 
which the clerk will report.

[[Page S1840]]

  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Adewale O. Adeyemo, of 
California, to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
  Thereupon, the Senate proceeded to consider the nomination


                    nomination of adewale d. adeyemo

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, the Senate is debating the nomination of 
Wally Adeyemo to serve as the next Deputy Treasury Secretary. I expect 
his nomination is going to pass with a big, bipartisan margin, but I 
want to take a few minutes to lay out a few reasons why every Senator 
ought to support this nominee.
  First, you hear a lot these days about how Members of the Senate are 
looking for unity. Three weeks ago, the Finance Committee approved the 
Adeyemo nomination unanimously by voice vote, and you can't get more 
unified than that.
  That unanimous vote followed an excellent hearing, in which Mr. 
Adeyemo demonstrated his command of all the various issues the Treasury 
is confronting today. A severe jobs crisis. Worsening inequality. A 
dangerous shortage of domestic manufacturing in critical areas of our 
economy. Intense economic competition with China, including job rip-
offs and trade cheating that have undermined American workers for too 
long. And many other big challenges.
  Members understand that there will be policy disagreements with the 
other party, but Mr. Adeyemo made it clear that he wants to work on a 
bipartisan basis to confront these challenges. Members take him 
seriously on that and trust him because he has done it before at the 
Treasury as a member of the Obama administration.
  Second, the pandemic economic crisis is far from over, and it is 
essential that the Treasury Department has its leadership team in 
place. COVID cases and deaths are still tragically high. Jobless claims 
are still incredibly high--they spent an entire year above the previous 
peaks. So millions of families in Oregon and around the country are 
still walking an economic tightrope, and that is one of the key reasons 
why Senate Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan earlier this 
month.
  The Treasury is right at the center of the enormous effort to 
implement that legislation. It is extraordinarily challenging work. 
Getting relief payments out to tens of millions of Americans in a 
timely way. Saving millions of jobs at the State and local level, 
particularly teachers, firefighters and municipal workers. Launching a 
landmark expansion and reinvention of the child tax credit to cut child 
poverty in half. This is difficult work. It requires the kind of strong 
and committed leadership that Wally Adeyemo will bring to the Treasury 
Department.
  I am also looking forward to working with him on the issue of shell 
companies. Late last year Congress passed landmark legislation to end 
the use of anonymous shell companies in the United States. Several 
members of the Finance Committee had spent years working to get that 
legislation passed. Now that it has become law, it is up to the 
Treasury Department to write strong rules and implement it. This is a 
vital challenge, and it is a long time coming. So I am very much 
looking forward to working with Mr. Adeyemo once he is confirmed. He is 
as highly qualified as they come. He is also a history-making nominee 
because he will be the first African American Deputy Treasury 
Secretary.
  I support his nomination 100 percent. He got 100 percent of the 
Finance Committee's support a few weeks ago. I believe he will have 
strong bipartisan support from the Senate, and I urge all Members to 
vote to confirm this nomination
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the 
nomination of Wally Adeyemo for Deputy Secretary of the Treasury,
  The U.S. Treasury Department plays a significant part in enforcing 
American foreign policy through economic sanctions. We know that 
sanctions work and that the strong application of these measures 
against adversaries, including Communist China, Iran, North Korea, 
Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, are essential to holding the brutal 
dictators and their enablers who hold power in these nations 
accountable.
  Communist China is the biggest threat our Nation faces. Communist 
China is committing a genocide against the Uyghurs, stripping Hong 
Kongers of their basic rights, and continues to threaten to take Taiwan 
by force. I am concerned that Mr. Adeyemo does not understand the risk 
Communist China poses to our national and economic security and to our 
allies. Communist China is not a strategic competitor; they are an 
adversary and must be treated as such. Any U.S. official who thinks 
that Communist China can play a positive role in the world is mistaken.
  I am also concerned that Mr. Adeyemo will not be strong when standing 
up to Castro's Communist regime in Cuba. I cannot support anyone who 
will back a return to the failed Obama-Biden appeasement policies, 
which did nothing to help the Cuban people and allowed Havana to extend 
its reach and expand its control, giving power to other ruthless 
dictatorships in Latin America.
  Currently, our Nation is on track to reach $30 trillion in debt. We 
have to get serious about Federal spending and the impacts it will have 
on our children and grandchildren. President Biden's massive spending 
policies are already causing the cost of living in America to rise. I 
cannot support candidates who think the solution to America's economic 
woes is more government, more taxes and more regulation, not more 
individual opportunity. That is wrong and will only send us further 
into debt and our families further into despair. We need to focus on 
growing the economy and growing jobs in order to preserve the American 
dream.
  For all these reasons, I oppose Mr. Adeyemo's nomination and urge my 
colleagues to do the same.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Adeyemo nomination?
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion to reconsider is considered made 
and laid upon the table, and the President will be immediately notified 
of the Senate's action.

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