[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 192 (Tuesday, November 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7582-S7583]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Jonathan Davidson

  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I am coming to the floor to talk about a 
nominee that we have before us this afternoon, who is nominated by 
President Biden to be the Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury for 
Legislative Affairs.
  He is a person who is well known to this Chamber. He spent roughly 20 
years working in the Senate. He started out as Senator Paul Sarbanes' 
body man years and years and years ago and became chief of staff for 
Senator Sarbanes when Senator Sarbanes was the chair of the Banking 
Committee. He worked in the House for Representative Sarbanes, was 
chief counsel to Senator Warner, and then came to my office and was my 
chief of staff.
  His name is Jon Davidson, and he worked for the people of Colorado 
and for the country for about 10 years in that role. When he came over 
as my chief of staff, it was very shocking to me that he was willing to 
do it because he had a good job and he was doing really well for 
Senator Warner. But it gave him the chance to run a Senate office, and 
he did an extraordinary job not just because of his understanding of 
policy and his understanding of politics--a lot of people have that 
around this place--but also his understanding of human nature and his 
belief that in all of us, even those of us who are Senators, there can 
be a gem of goodness in us to be found and to be brought along and to 
be grown. And that was true not just for me, but for the entire staff.
  He was an incredible mentor to probably hundreds of people who worked 
for me over the years, both in the State of Colorado and in here. He 
was an extraordinary manager who led with integrity and discipline and 
drive.
  And while I was extremely sorry to lose him, I wasn't at all 
surprised that President Biden and the Secretary of the Treasury wanted 
him at Treasury, where he could take what he had learned on Capitol 
Hill and apply it at

[[Page S7583]]

a moment when the country urgently needs leadership like the leadership 
that Jon Davidson can provide.
  Just one example: You know, Mr. President, I ran a not very well 
noticed campaign for President the last time we were having a campaign 
for President, and I ran it on the idea that we could cut childhood 
poverty almost in half in this country by adopting the changes that I 
had proposed to the child tax credit with Senator Brown from Ohio and 
Senator Booker from New Jersey and then-Senator Harris from California.
  But, like with anything else a Senator does, the work is actually 
done often by the members of that Senator's staff. And in the case of 
Jon, the vision also came from him and from Charlie Anderson--another 
staff member that I had--and the entire team that worked together not 
just for that Presidential campaign but to make sure that, in the wake 
of it, that could actually become law.
  And because of Jon's tenacity, among other things, and his 
willingness to be able to raise this issue again and again and again in 
rooms full of staff but also in rooms full of Senators, those changes 
in the child tax credit are now the law of the land, and we are cutting 
childhood poverty in this country almost in half this year. It is one 
of the signature accomplishments, in my mind, of the Biden 
administration. It is one that I hope that we are going to be able to 
continue.
  So, obviously, I was extremely sad to see him go. I was very, very 
pleased to see the broad bipartisan support that the cloture vote on 
his nomination engendered. And I know great things are ahead for Jon 
and for the country because of his leadership.
  He knows, I think, that he has got an open invitation to come back 
anytime that he wants to.
  Before I leave the floor, I also want to say a special word of 
gratitude to his dad Garber, who lives in Baltimore; and to his wife 
Erin; and to his children Leo, Mia, and Serena--all of whom have been 
part of the efforts that we have undertaken on behalf of the people I 
represent in Colorado over the last decade and on behalf of the United 
States of America.
  These opportunities for public service that all of us have are ones 
that can't be accomplished without our families; without, I know in the 
case of Jon, the mentorship that he received from his father, who 
himself was a distinguished public servant in the United States, and 
also the support of his family.
  So I am filled with great happiness today that we are going to have a 
great, positive, bipartisan vote on Jon Davidson, as it should be. And 
perhaps that is a sign of things to come when the kind of quality of 
somebody like Jon Davidson is recognized in a way that it causes us to 
act not in a partisan way but in a bipartisan way, to embrace his 
public service but also a vision for the country that can move us 
forward.
  So congratulations to Jon Davidson. Congratulations to his family, to 
the Department of the Treasury, and to the United States of America.
  With that, Madam President, I yield the floor.

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