[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 212 (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9013-S9014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Requests--Executive Calendar

  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, in a minute, I am going to ask unanimous 
consent for the approval of three important nominees who are not 
controversial. We have been hearing reasons to oppose a nominee who has 
some controversy, and I am going to raise three who are not 
controversial.
  In July, I had the opportunity to travel to Mexico, Ecuador, 
Colombia, and Guatemala as part of a bipartisan congressional 
delegation. The first question we received in Mexico was not about 
COVID-19 and not about immigration. It was, When is your Ambassador 
going to get here?
  Fortunately, since then, the Senate has approved the nomination of 
Ken Salazar to be Ambassador to Mexico, but the exchange underscores 
the importance of having U.S. Ambassadors on the ground and the value 
that other nations see in Senate-confirmed representatives of the 
United States.
  I take the floor today to talk about three noncontroversial nominees: 
Adam Scheinman, of Virginia, to be Special Representative of the 
President for Nuclear Nonproliferation; Marc Ostfield to be Ambassador 
to Paraguay; and Cynthia Telles to be Ambassador to Costa Rica.
  Mr. Scheinman has had a long history in the State Department and on 
the National Security Council at the White House on Nuclear 
Nonproliferation issues.
  Marc Ostfield is a career Foreign Service Officer with deep 
experience in the Americas.
  Cynthia Telles is the daughter of the first Hispanic to be a U.S. 
Ambassador. Her father was the U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica 60 years 
ago, and after a very distinguished career, she has been nominated to 
inherit the post that he ably inhabited.
  These were all nominees approved noncontroversially by the Foreign 
Relations Committee on October 19, nearly 2 months ago.
  I will just mention to my colleagues one thing about Mr. Scheinman. 
It is particularly important that he be confirmed as soon as possible. 
An important duty of the Special Representative of the President for 
Nuclear Nonproliferation is to lead the U.S. delegation to the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty Review Conference. This 
conference happens once every 5 years--once every 5 years--and it is 
going to happen next month. If he is not confirmed before then, the 
United States will not have an Ambassador-level official to lead the 
American delegation at this existentially important meeting.

[[Page S9014]]

  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
following nominations: Executive Calendar Nos. 433, 436, and 439; that 
the nominations be confirmed; that the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or 
debate; that no further motions be in order on these nominations; that 
any related statements be printed in the Record; and that the President 
be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, reserving the right to object.
  The eyes of history are on the Senate today. If the Nord Stream 2 
Pipeline comes online, as it is on the verge of doing, the odds of 
Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine increase dramatically. We have 
imposed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline with bipartisan unity. 
We can do it again.
  If Russian tanks roll into Kiev, who in this Chamber wants that on 
their conscience?
  We need to stop Russia from invading Ukraine, and the only way to do 
it is by imposing sanctions on Nord Stream 2. We did that 2 years ago. 
We overwhelmingly passed bipartisan sanctions that President Trump 
signed into law.
  It is worth explaining why these two are linked.
  We are all reading in the newspaper--and my friend from Virginia 
and I have sat in briefings, classified and public briefings--that over 
100,000 Russian troops are massed on the Ukraine border. The 
administration declassified its own projections that an invasion of 
Ukraine is imminent and could come as soon as January or February of 
next year. This disaster is the direct result of a political mistake 
made by Joe Biden.

  What does the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline have to do with Russia's 
invading Ukraine?
  Well, here is a little bit of ancient history. In the year 2014, 
Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
  Why?
  He did it because he has said that he considers the dissolution of 
the Soviet Union to be the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 21st 
century, and his grand ambition is to recreate the Soviet Union--by 
force.
  A reassembled Soviet Union would be a profound threat to the safety 
of all Americans. We spent decades with a dangerous Soviet Union. In 
2014, Putin invaded Ukraine--he invaded Crimea--but he stopped. He 
didn't go through all of Ukraine.
  Why did he stop?
  He stopped because Russian natural gas, to get to Europe, goes 
through Ukraine. The pipelines go through Ukraine.
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, may I invoke regular order? This is not a 
response to any of these three nominations.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection to the request?
  Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, reserving the right to object.
  There is nothing in regular order that limits my ability to explain 
my view on this topic.
  So, apparently, the Democrats don't want to talk about Joe Biden's 
gift to Russia and Putin that has set up the tanks on the border of 
Ukraine.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection to the original request?
  Mr. CRUZ. Is the Chair refusing to let me speak?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate has a scheduled vote. You see that 
Members have made their way to the floor. We have a lot of business to 
take care of, as you see.
  Mr. CRUZ. And, just a moment ago, the Chair granted unanimous consent 
that that time be extended until this unanimous consent request was 
concluded. That is the pending UC that was granted.
  If Senator Kaine or the Chair wants to silence me because you don't 
want to hear what is happening in Ukraine, you can try to do that.
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, we have no interest in silencing Senator 
Cruz. In fact, the Democrats agreed to allow Senator Cruz to present 
his amendment on Nord Stream 2 last week, and it was blocked by 
Republican colleagues.
  I have made a request for unanimous consent about two Ambassadors to 
the Americas and about someone who needs to attend a nuclear 
nonproliferation conference and lead the delegation from the United 
States. It happens once every 5 years, and it is coming up.
  The Senator is allowed to speak about Nord Stream 2 for as long as he 
wants, but he shouldn't interrupt a UC for these three individuals to 
give a speech that he has given many times and that he is going to 
continue to give many times, and I am sure we are all going to hear it 
many times.
  I would like a ruling on my request for unanimous consent on these 
three nominees.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection to the original request?
  Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I object. And the Chair and the Democrats 
are hiding from the truth.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I yield the floor.