[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 165 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6653-S6654]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Nominations

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, you know, we are here at this--normally, 
Thursday night we wouldn't be here under normal circumstances, but we 
are here because one Member of the Senate has determined to impede the 
entire national security infrastructure as it relates to the foreign 
policy of the United States.
  What we do in the State Department and that which comes through the 
Committee on Foreign Relations has to do with the essential security of 
the United States. It is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that 
has jurisdiction over global arms sales. It is the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee that has jurisdiction over the use of force. It is 
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that deals with treaties across 
the globe. It is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that deals with 
the question of nuclear arms and proliferation and so much more.
  And it is the State Department that perpetuates the national 
interests and security of the United States in its positions across the 
globe, both at home, in the first place, but across the globe.
  Now, I have had plenty, over the course of 30 years of doing foreign 
policy work between the House and the Senate, and 16 years in the 
Senate--plenty of moments where I had a fundamental disagreement, a 
very strong one, with an administration about their policy, but I did 
not hold up the entire national security infrastructure of the State 
Department that puts at risk the Nation.
  I hear all these speeches about security. You are putting at risk the 
Nation. Wouldn't it be nice if we had some of the critical people--I 
just heard my colleague from Texas--in a position, beyond the 
Department of Homeland Security, to deal with the hemispheric 
challenges that we have on immigration in Central America, in Latin 
America?
  The Haitians who are at the border today didn't just come from the 
earthquake and disasters and assassination and hurricanes that have 
taken place. They have been in Latin America for quite some time. They 
have just made their way to the border. Wouldn't it be nice if we had 
the people in place to deal--Ambassadors and others--to deal in those 
countries to find a way forward on how we humanely deal with that 
challenge?
  Wouldn't it be nice if we had the person in charge of East Asia and 
the Pacific to deal with our challenges with China? This Senate came 
together a few months ago and said China is the single most significant 
national security challenge, the most significant strategic challenge 
we have in the world. And yet we have vacancies galore to deal with 
that very challenge.
  I have Members who come to me and say: This company from my State is 
having problems with XYZ. Well, wouldn't it be nice to be able to have 
an ambassador in that country to deal with the challenges of that 
American company or people who come to me and talk to me about their 
challenges in getting a loved one, somebody from their State, to be 
able to come? Our consular officers. Wouldn't it be nice to have 
somebody in the position to deal with that?
  Wouldn't it be critical, as we deal with the questions of law 
enforcement and drug trafficking, to have the head of that, the 
Assistant Secretary, in position so that we could deal with those 
challenges?
  So whatever view our colleague from Texas has about Nord Stream, and 
I happen to believe that on the substance he is right, but this 
procedure is wretchedly wrong because it puts us at risk in so, so many 
dimensions. And something will happen--something will happen somewhere 
in the world where we are not present because one Senator decided to 
hold up that nominee that would have made a difference.
  We already saw it. We already saw it as we were trying to deal with 
challenges in our hemisphere and those that related to Afghanistan. 
Ridiculous.
  So our colleague who is holding this all up--because these nominees 
overwhelmingly passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee either 
unanimously--hear me--unanimously or with strong bipartisan votes. We 
just saw the cloture vote before--77.
  We are leaving these positions unfilled. The position is untenable to 
continue to be able to meet the challenges the State Department has in 
fulfilling whose interest? The interests of the American people across 
the globe.
  So it is time to get over that. We have only passed in this body 
two--two--of President Biden's ambassadorial appointments--two. This 
administration has been in office 9 months.
  If I were to look at the same time period with President Trump, we 
did far better. I didn't agree with President Trump on a whole host of 
foreign policy decisions, but I understood that having people in place 
was critical, even when I disagreed with them philosophically. It was 
critical to promote the national interests and security of the United 
States.
  So it is time to get over this. These positions would normally pass 
by voice, much less taking hours--hours, of which, by the way, the 
debate is not even about the nominees or their positions. It is about 
immigration and this and that and the other. The debate is not even 
about these critical national security positions.

[[Page S6654]]

  I don't want to hear about people coming to the floor and talking 
about national security when they are leaving all these positions 
vacant.
  Now, let me specifically address the nominees that we are voting on. 
I want to express my support for the nominations of Daniel Kritenbrink 
to be the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific. 
Whoa. China.
  Karen Donfried to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and 
Eurasian Affairs. Oh, we are trying to have a strong transatlantic 
alliance. We are talking about Ukraine, Belarus.
  Monica Medina to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and 
International Environmental and Scientific Affairs--Scientific Affairs. 
Yeah, COVID.
  Mary Catherine Phee to be the Assistant Secretary of State for 
African Affairs. We are having a huge challenge. I have been privileged 
to meet two of the African Presidents here in the last couple of days 
since they are here for U.N. Week. China is all over Africa. We need an 
Assistant Secretary who is engaged in the continent of Africa to be 
promoting the views of America's democracy, human rights, rule of law, 
investment, trade, and opportunity. We are nowhere there.
  Todd Robinson to be the Assistant Secretary of State for 
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. You know, I hear speeches 
about fentanyl; I agree. Wouldn't it be nice to have the Assistant 
Secretary of State to work hemispherically and beyond to make sure that 
we don't get more fentanyl into our country?
  And Jessica Lewis to be the Assistant Secretary of State for 
Political-Military Affairs. If ever we needed someone who is engaged on 
the conduct of political and military affairs and how that faces 
national security challenges, it is now.
  These are the people we are voting on. These are the people who 
overwhelmingly came out of the committee on either unanimous or 
bipartisan votes. These are superbly qualified nominees, and I have, if 
it is not obvious, a very deep frustration about them languishing on 
the floor for weeks--weeks--due to Republican holds. And I have a 
frustration that we have not been able to more precipitously move 
people to the committee to bring them to the floor.
  We have close to 100 nominations for the State Department and USAID 
that are pending. That is a crisis number. These nominations include 
positions and ambassadorships to countries throughout Latin America and 
Africa: places where competition with China and Russia is real, where 
we need Ambassadors in place to project U.S. power, to assist and 
protect U.S. citizens, and to promote our companies.
  We are less safe when our national security Agencies are so 
underwhelmed. We owe it to the Senate and the American people to fix 
this problem.
  I am pleased to be supporting the nomination of Ambassador Daniel 
Kritenbrink to be Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and 
Pacific Affairs. In recent years, and on a bipartisan basis, the United 
States has reassessed and rebalanced our approach to the Indo-Pacific 
to take into account the reality of our competitive relationship with 
China. So this is a region rich with pressing challenges from North 
Korea's nuclear and missile programs to a rollback in human rights and 
democracy across the region.
  Ambassador Kritenbrink will be able to draw from decades of 
experience in the region to lead our efforts in this area.
  Also pleased to be supporting Dr. Karen Donfried's nomination, which 
is a testament to the Biden administration's effort to rebuild the 
transatlantic relationship, which was significantly damaged by the last 
administration.
  I know that Dr. Donfried's knowledge and experience--including 
previously as the Senior Director for European Affairs at the National 
Security Council--will serve the country well as we seek to renew that 
transatlantic relationship.
  These are issues dealing with Russia, Turkey, Belarus, our support 
for Ukraine. I hear all the time in speeches about support for these 
countries. Wouldn't it be nice to have the person--forget about nice. 
Isn't it critical to have the person that can be promoting that view?
  There is Monica Medina to be the Assistant Secretary for Oceans and 
International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. I am convinced that 
she is eminently qualified, including the time she spent as Principal 
Deputy Under Secretary of Oceans and Atmosphere at the Department of 
Commerce and in a broad variety of leadership roles focused on ocean 
conservation, environmental policy, and science.
  Likewise, I am pleased to support Ambassador Mary Catherine Phee to 
be the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. As I said, we 
have an enormous challenge on the African continent.
  I support Todd Robinson to be a leader as the Assistant Secretary of 
State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement 
Affairs. If we want to deal with the coyotes whom my colleague was 
talking about, let's put somebody in a position to go after them. I 
know this work is critical to our international efforts to combat 
narcotics, to deal with fentanyl, and to deal with the trafficking 
routes that extend through Mexico and all the way back to China.
  Then there is Jessica Lewis, finally. It is with a mixture of deep 
pride and some sorrow that this body will consider the nomination of 
Ms. Lewis to be the next Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of 
Political-Military Affairs.
  Almost 20 years ago, I hired Jessica for her first job on Capitol 
Hill as my foreign policy adviser and staff director of the House 
Foreign Affairs Committee's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, of which I 
was ranking member. After moving to the Senate and working for Senator 
Harry Reid for nearly a decade, she took up the staff director position 
of the Foreign Relations Committee. Throughout her tenure in all of 
these positions, Members, Senators, and staff on both sides of the 
aisle benefited from her deep knowledge of foreign policy, her 
leadership, and indeed her love for Congress itself, with all its 
nuanced rules and procedures.
  Jessica is recognized across party lines as one of the most effective 
and trusted leaders on Capitol Hill. She is a trailblazer for women in 
national security. When approved by the Senate--and I have no doubt she 
will be--she will be the first woman confirmed to hold this position.
  It would be impossible to catalogue all of her accomplishments, from 
getting countless bills passed through the committee and into law, 
supporting efforts to conduct serious oversight of the executive branch 
regardless of which party is in power, to striving to build a truly 
diverse staff of the Foreign Relations Committee. I have no doubt she 
will bring her commitment to mentorship, integrity, and public service 
to the State Department as well.
  So we expect to see her, after she gets confirmed, back here 
answering questions and being part of this incredibly important job 
that she will be doing in bringing political and military affairs 
together.
  I hope that we do not have to go through these 100 nominees, through 
2-hour sessions of each nominee, in order to get them to start working 
for U.S. national security. That is what is at stake here.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.