[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 123 (Wednesday, July 14, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4909-S4910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, now, one of the most important duties 
we take on as Members of this Chamber is the confirmation of the 
President's Cabinet and other top executive branch issues.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Would my colleague yield for a question?
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Not until I finish my remarks, but I thank the 
gentleman.
  A Senate confirmation hearing is probably the world's worst job 
interview, but there is a good reason for that. The various candidates 
who come before our committees are asking to take on some of the most 
important challenges that we face as a country. And so when the 
President sends us these nominees for consideration, it is our job to 
vet their resumes, to vet their records. To go through the motions is 
not enough. We need to meet with them and review their history.
  So imagine our shock when the Biden administration began to send us 
candidates that made it clear the President expects the Senate to act 
as a rubberstamp for some of the most controversial and unqualified 
nominees in recent memory.
  His choice for Health and Human Services, Secretary Xavier Becerra, 
had no meaningful experience in healthcare before his very first day 
serving as the country's chief healthcare officer. He did, however, 
have quite a long history of weaponizing the full force of government 
against people whose views differ from his own.
  Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's choice to lead the Department of Homeland 
Security, boasted a proven record of corruption from his time serving 
in the Obama administration. An investigation by the inspector general 
for the Department of Homeland Security revealed that Mayorkas abused 
his position as the Director of USCIS to help politically powerful 
friends violate immigration laws.
  Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta's record as a radical, 
liberal activist was so diametrically opposed to the beliefs of most 
Americans that she tried to ``evolve'' her positions on drug crime and 
defunding the police just to avoid scrutiny during her confirmation 
hearing. Of course, by ``evolve,'' I mean she outright lied about her 
position. And there have been many, many, who have stood on this floor 
and have challenged her nomination.
  Another, David Chipman--this is Biden's pick to lead the Bureau of 
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He is so anti-Second 
Amendment, he has endorsed policies that would effectively ban all 
sporting rifles in the United States. He has no respect for the 
constitutional right to bear arms, no respect for the nearly 20 million 
Americans who hold a concealed carry permit, or the 15.5 million 
Americans who hold hunting licenses. President Biden chose the anti-gun 
lobby over the American people when he nominated Chipman for this post.
  President Biden's parade of genuinely unacceptable nominees continued 
this week. Today, the majority leader has decided to move forward with 
the nomination of Donald Remy to be Deputy Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs. If that name sounds familiar to you, it is because you have 
heard about Mr. Remy's work in other controversial context. He served 
as the NCAA's COO and chief legal officer and was the architect of that 
organization's restrictive policy against name, image, and likeness 
compensation.
  Between September 2018 and August 2019, the NCAA spent more than $26 
million defending an NIL business model that the Supreme Court recently 
described as ``patently and inexplicably stricter than . . . 
necessary.'' It was a 9-to-0 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
  The $26 million, where does the NCAA get that money? From colleges, 
from universities, from student athletes. That is where the money came 
from, and it was used to defend this lawsuit.
  But let's not focus on this one policy governing the NIL 
compensation. We need to keep in mind that Mr. Remy was comfortable 
using his training as a lawyer and his considerable power as a top NCAA 
official to maintain the culture of exploitation that defines modern 
college athletics. I am not sure what led President Biden to believe 
that Mr. Remy could help lead an agency notorious for its own brand of 
careless exploitation, but whatever the reason, we have a duty to get 
in his way.
  For our veterans, decisions can be life or death. I have objected to 
his nomination since I came through the committee. And, quite frankly, 
I think it is a shame that President Biden refused to nominate someone 
who could demonstrate an ability to earn back the trust so many 
veterans have lost in the VA system.
  Our veterans who have served this Nation honorably deserve better 
choices. They deserve at least that much from their Commander in Chief.
  This nomination is just one more unserious shot in the dark from an 
administration that is yet to focus its energy on any one of the long 
list of problems they say they came to Washington to solve.
  A quick scan of the morning newsletters on any given day show a 
complete lack of direction on the part of the White House and the 
Senate majority. Will we be working on infrastructure in the next few 
weeks or are we just going to be handling nominations? Are the most 
radical elements of the American Families Plan on the table or are we 
going to pivot to election law? Well, we won't have to flip a coin on 
that last one.

[[Page S4910]]

  We know that over the next few weeks, we will waste time and energy 
resurrecting the Democrats' failed election takeover bill. As most 
everyone has seen, this week, Washington is playing host to a 
delegation of Texas Democrats' intent on holding election integrity 
legislation hostage in their very own State. They have come all the way 
to Capitol Hill to try and convince their Federal counterparts to go 
nuclear on behalf of a bill that has failed in various forms so many 
times that the objections write themselves. This political stunt is 
part of a larger movement within the radical American left to destroy 
the concept of one person, one vote and replace it with an 
unconstitutional, centralized election system that invites fraud and 
encourages donor intimidation. This foolish attack on ballot integrity 
has seized hold in Texas, Georgia, and other States attempting to 
protect the vote for all eligible voters.
  Ballot integrity is a foundational concept in our Republic. It should 
be easy to vote. It should be hard to cheat. State and local officials 
should feel empowered to grow and tailor elections in a way that meets 
the needs of the community, not the demands of power-seeking 
politicians.
  I think I speak for all of my Republican colleagues when I say that 
we will not legitimize this hysteria that has gripped the Democratic 
Party. Instead, we will defend the constitutional prerogative of one 
person, one vote through however many objections it takes to relegate 
this scheme that the Democrats have been trying for 20 years to 
relegate this to the dustbin of history
  I yield the floor.

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