[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 65 (Thursday, April 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1976-S1977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     MOTION TO DISCHARGE--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant Democratic leader.


                       Nomination of Vanita Gupta

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, what is it about these nominees Vanita 
Gupta and Kristen Clarke that drives some of the Members on the other 
side of the aisle into a rage? Listen to how they describe them.
  The senior Senator from Texas describes Vanita Gupta as a political 
``culture warrior,'' slandering and vilifying people. Then, of course, 
the junior Senator from Texas calls her an ``extreme partisan 
ideologue.'' ``Radical twins,'' he calls them.
  What is it about these two nominees that drives them into such a 
state of mind that they say these things about individuals seeking an 
opportunity to again serve our Federal Government?
  It is amazing to me that the junior Senator from Texas suggests that 
they are in the thrall of handlers. Handlers. If you heard the story of 
the lives of these two women and what they have overcome to be where 
they are today, the last thing in the world you would use is a 
reference to handlers. They have defied handlers all throughout their 
lives--sons of immigrants, daughters of immigrants. Like so many of 
them, they know they have to work hard to prove themselves, and they 
have done it time and again.
  Vanita Gupta. Can you picture that moment when the civil rights 
organizations said to Vanita Gupta: We want you to go to Tulia, TX, 
because something has happened there that looks like a terrible 
miscarriage of justice. Forty people have been arrested for drug crimes 
in Tulia, TX, and we want you to go down there, even though they are in 
jail and they have been convicted, and defend them and try to find a 
way that they will be released.
  That is exactly what Vanita Gupta did. The net result was that they 
were not only released, but the lawman who had supposedly found them 
guilty was the one who was discredited and dishonored when it was over, 
and the Texas Governor--the Republican Texas Governor--acknowledged it 
with a pardon of these individuals and paying them millions of dollars 
for what they had lived through. Who led that charge? Vanita Gupta. Was 
she waiting for a message from a handler? No. She showed extraordinary 
courage there and throughout her life as an attorney fighting for the 
civil rights of others and as an attorney representing the Government 
of the United States of America and the Department of Justice.
  When I listen to efforts to discredit her and her professionalism, I 
think, you haven't read the story. You would know in a second she 
doesn't wait to hear from a handler. She never has. She has shown 
exceptional courage and professionalism every step of the way.
  Kristen Clarke, the same. Born in an area of New York City that I am 
sure Senator Schumer knows, in a public tenement type of building, she 
overcame all the odds. She graduated from law school and served in the 
Department of Justice.
  When the junior Senator from Texas comes and refers to Vanita Gupta 
and Kristen Clarke as ``radical twins,'' zealots, ideologues, it is 
disgusting. It is terrible. It is a terrible reference to a fine life 
that each of them has lived.
  And this notion that somehow they have fooled the Fraternal Order of 
Police into believing that they really do love police, when, in fact, 
as the Republicans argue, they just want to take all their money away--
we know better. The fact that Vanita Gupta has the endorsement of every 
major law enforcement organization puts to rest some of the charges 
they have made against her.
  I can't believe what they are saying about these two nominees, but I 
think that a majority of the Senate is ultimately going to judge that 
they are ready to serve this country again and should, and the 
Department of Justice.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. The Senator from Utah has graciously yielded back his 
remaining time, so I ask unanimous consent that I speak for a brief few 
minutes and then we vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. SCHUMER. And then yield back the rest of our time after that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       Nomination of Vanita Gupta

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the Senate will soon vote on a motion 
to discharge the nomination of Vanita Gupta to serve as the next 
Attorney General--Associate Attorney General. The daughter of 
immigrants, she would be the first woman of color and the first civil 
rights attorney to serve as Attorney General.
  Ms. Gupta is an exceptional nominee and an outstanding lawyer. It is 
confounding that her nomination has been tied up in the Judiciary 
Committee, requiring the Senate to take the extra procedural steps to 
move her nomination forward. But despite Republican obstruction, she 
will be confirmed by this Chamber in a few minutes.
  Ms. Gupta's credentials speak for themselves. She most recently 
served as president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and 
Human Rights and served 4 years at the Justice Department.
  Her first case after law school involved securing the release of 
several African Americans wrongly convicted by all-White juries in 
Texas.
  At a time when so many in our country call for action against civil 
injustices and racial violence, how can we not install one of the 
Nation's top civil rights lawyers at the Department of Justice?
  Senate Republicans, rather than evaluate Ms. Gupta on the merits of 
her accomplishments, have spent the last few weeks appealing to 
outlandish accusations that she is an out-of-touch, far-left radical.
  The questions she endured during her confirmation hearing were 
utterly inane--from accusations that she is anti-police to the 
insinuation that she wants to legalize all drugs. A conservative 
judicial organization even launched a shameful national ad campaign to 
smear her reputation--her nomination. These smear tactics are nonsense.
  Gupta commands the respect of civil rights advocates and law 
enforcement and has the endorsement from the National Fraternal Order 
of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Association of 
Chiefs of Police, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. 
There is no mystery to Ms. Gupta's broad support. She is outstanding at 
what she does. She knows how to listen and work with others, including 
Republican Senators, and is deeply knowledgeable in the field. That is 
exactly--exactly--she is exactly the kind of person we need at the 
Department of Justice.
  So I look forward to now moving on Ms. Gupta's nomination.
  I yield back the rest of our time.

[[Page S1977]]

  



                      Vote on Motion to Discharge

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam 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. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Tester) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. BLUNT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Braun), the 
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Montana (Mr. 
Daines), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from 
Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall), the 
Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul), 
and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Portman).
  Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. 
Marshall) would have voted ``nay.''-
  The result was announced--yeas 49, nays 34, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 153 Ex.]

                                YEAS--49

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--34

     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Tuberville
     Wicker
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--17

     Barrasso
     Braun
     Burr
     Daines
     Inhofe
     Lummis
     Marshall
     Moran
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Romney
     Rounds
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). Pursuant to S. Res. 27 and the 
motion to discharge having been agreed to, the nomination will be 
placed on the Executive Calendar.
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.

                          ____________________