[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 175 (Tuesday, October 5, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6903-S6904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    Nomination of Paloma Adams-Allen

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for 
the nomination of Paloma Adams-Allen to be Deputy Administrator for 
Management and Resources for the United States Agency for International 
Development, USAID.
  Ms. Adams-Allen is a dedicated public servant who has spent her 
entire career focusing on international development and eliminating 
global poverty. She will bring with her essential leadership 
experience, stemming from her years as USAID's Deputy Assistant 
Administrator for the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau and, most 
recently, as the CEO of the Inter-American Foundation.
  She is exactly the type of leader USAID needs right now as 
Administrator Samantha Power aims to restore and refocus the Agency as 
a critical arm of U.S. foreign policy.
  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported Ms. Adam-Allen's 
nomination by voice vote, with no Members asking to be recorded in 
opposition. Yet she has been languishing on the Senate floor for more 
than 2 months due to Republican holds. Even though the Biden 
administration has been in office for more than 9 months, the Senate is 
only now getting around

[[Page S6904]]

to voting on just the second nominee to USAID.
  Last week, I made a live unanimous consent request to confirm Ms. 
Adams-Allen and nine other nominees the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee reported to the floor, including two other USAID nominees. 
But each of the nominations was blocked by our Republican colleagues 
for reasons that have nothing to do with the nominations themselves.
  This continued obstruction of nominees who are critical to restoring 
U.S. global leadership and ensuring our national security is shameful. 
And it is dangerous.
  USAID is grappling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other 
humanitarian emergencies that are ravaging the globe, and Members of 
this body are preventing it from effectively carrying out its mission, 
a mission that is intended to further U.S. interests.
  So while I am relieved that the full Senate is finally taking steps 
to confirm Ms. Adams-Allen, the fact that we need votes on both cloture 
and final passage on a nominee who is without a hint of controversy, 
has served dutifully in government for decades, and was reported with 
unanimous support from the Foreign Relations Committee, is utterly 
absurd.
  The delays and obstacles facing nominees for critical development and 
national security posts pending on the Senate floor and in the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee is reckless and contrary to our country's 
interests. We owe it to the Senate and the American people to fix this 
problem.
  I strongly support confirming Ms. Adams-Allen and respectfully urge 
my colleagues to join me in advancing her nomination, along with all of 
the foreign affairs nominations pending before this body.
  I yield the floor.