[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 165 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6660-S6661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Monica P. Medina

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I would like to speak in support of Ms. 
Monica Medina's nomination to be Assistant Secretary of State for the 
Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific 
Affairs.
  I have known Monica for more than 30 years and can say without a 
shred of doubt that she is the most qualified and competent candidate 
to fill this position. She has worked for decades across multiple 
administrations on issues of environmental law and policy. She 
understands well the interconnected world we live in and knows that 
21st-century U.S. foreign policy goes not simply beyond the water's 
edge but to the seas and the skies and the sands of the world, where 
universal threats and their solutions lie.
  Monica is a proven public servant through and through. Over the 
years, she has fought for what matters most. For example, during her 
time at the Defense Department, she worked to end discriminatory 
practices against women in the military, to provide them with 
opportunities that were previously closed to them simply because of 
their gender.
  After her time at DOD, she continued the track record of fighting for 
what is most important by calling out the connection between illegal 
wildlife trafficking and organized criminal networks, confronting 
illegal fishing that is too often tied to global piracy and human 
rights violations.
  Her expertise in globe-spanning threats to our national security is 
exactly why former Secretary of Defense

[[Page S6661]]

Leon Panetta and the Center for Strategic and International Studies 
have turned to her as an expert and adviser, because she knows that we 
can't protect ourselves at home without a robust strategy abroad.
  Throughout her career, she has proven to be a pragmatic and 
solutions-focused public servant by working across the aisle and with 
stakeholders from different States and industries in the United States 
to find ways to protect our oceans and our ocean economy.
  After the Deepwater Horizon oilspill, Monica collaborated with five 
Republican Governors of affected States to get $1 billion in 
restoration funds from oil company BP so that States could quickly stop 
rebounding from the disaster.
  Her work at NOAA was praised by groups like the Seafood Harvesters of 
America, who support her experience and legacy of protecting our oceans 
and the workers and communities that depend upon them.
  Louis Pasteur once said:

       Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to 
     humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. 
     Science is the highest personification of the nation because 
     that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest 
     the works of thought and intelligence.

  Monica Medina has dedicated her career to promoting America's 
excellence in these two realms--the tools of science and the values of 
humanity--because it is there where America's promise to the world can 
be found.
  I want to reiterate very strongly that she has served every mission, 
she has fulfilled every goal that she has been given, and every 
discussion that she has ever had has always resulted in people holding 
us in the highest regard by the key stakeholders in every issue she has 
touched. I want to reiterate my strong support for her nomination and 
hope my colleagues will join me in confirming her for this important 
position.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.