[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 163 (Tuesday, September 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S6558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, over the next few weeks, Senate Democrats 
will also move forward on a number of noncontroversial nominees 
critical to keeping our country safe and advancing American diplomacy 
abroad.
  Over the last few months, there has been a growing backlog on these 
nominees due to Republican obstructionism, and it is our hope, starting 
this week, we can move to secure their confirmation.
  But, last week, a number of my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle announced they will seek to delay these nominees for no other 
reason than to score cheap political points in an effort to win fans on 
the far right. It is no secret. People leading this are all competing 
to run for President on the Republican side in 2024, and they are in 
feverish--feverish--pursuit of the extreme right in this country, which 
they think will help them win a primary. So they tie this Chamber in a 
knot but, more importantly, jeopardize the security of Americans.
  This is unacceptable. Every one of these nominees won bipartisan, if 
not unanimous, support in committee. That same level of support should 
continue on the floor. The Republicans who are delaying the 
confirmation of these nominees are deliberately making the American 
people less safe--less safe on the foreign policy side, where we need 
nominees to the Defense and State Departments, and less safe on the 
domestic side as well, where there is talk of holding up U.S. attorneys 
who are in charge of prosecuting Federal laws in all the States.
  Under normal circumstances, all of these nominees should be dispensed 
with speedily and without controversy, but because of the self-interest 
of a few obstructionists, the Senate could be forced to drag out what 
is normally a simple process.
  I urge these colleagues to drop their theatrics immediately and allow 
these nominees to these critical Agencies to go through.

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