[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 216 (Wednesday, December 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9175-S9176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to seek unanimous consent to 
confirm Amanda Howe, President Biden's nominee to be the next Assistant 
Administrator for Mission Support at the Environmental Protection 
Agency.
  I believe that my friend Senator Lee is going to object to this 
consent request. I hope when he does that he will explain his objection 
to this extremely qualified nominee.
  I have known the nominee for more than 20 years and can speak 
directly to her talents and abilities. Amanda held a number of roles in 
the Commonwealth of Virginia, including serving as my assistant 
secretary of commerce and trade during my 10 years as Governor.
  Amanda also served then-Governor Kaine's administration and Governor 
McAuliffe's administration and has held other leadership positions, 
including serving as deputy and then acting chief of staff to Mayor 
Bill de Blasio in New York.
  Amanda led the planning and organization of the Queen's visit to 
Virginia in 2007, when we celebrated 400 years of connection to the UK. 
She helped plan the first-ever ticker tape parade for the U.S. women's 
soccer team to celebrate the first World Cup victory. She organized 
Pope Francis's visit to New York.
  Beyond being a talented operator, Amanda also possesses a wealth of 
knowledge on issues under the EPA's purview, having worked on roles 
focused on renewable energy.
  Amanda has been nominated to lead the EPA's Office of Mission 
Support, which directs the Agency's efforts to

[[Page S9176]]

improve efficiency, coordination, and customer experiences for internal 
and external stakeholders and the public, including the protection of 
EPA's facilities and other assets nationwide that are terribly 
important to our government; IT management, for example, inside the 
EPA.
  It is my strong belief that Amanda has the requisite knowledge, 
expertise, and experience to carry out these critical functions at EPA.
  I am also very proud of the fact--and I thank the chair and ranking 
member of the EPW committee--that she got passed out on a voice vote.
  Now is the time to confirm Amanda so she can begin to oversee these 
critical management activities at the EPA.
  So I, therefore, ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
following nomination: Executive Calendar No. 560, Amanda Howe, of 
Virginia, to be Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no 
further motions be in order to the nomination and the President be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I made 
communication with the EPA as to how to resolve a concern that I have. 
It should be an easy thing to resolve. I am waiting to hear back a 
response from them. In the meantime, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. LEE. Sure.
  Mr. WARNER. It is my understanding your concern with the nominee is 
not about the nominee's qualifications.
  Mr. LEE. It relates to a matter at the EPA.
  Mr. WARNER. Thank you.
  I thank the Senator from Utah.
  Mr. President, I do hope this matter is resolved. I believe Amanda 
needs to be installed and doing her job. She has been up for this 
nomination literally for months.
  I also feel this is just one more example--I think probably every 
Member of the Senate, including the Presiding Officer, has a number of 
individuals he supports. I know many of my colleagues on the Republican 
side have nominees they support. The kind of blanket holds that are 
taking place on way too many of our nominees means that this President 
can't put in place his team.
  The Presiding Officer was a Governor. He is about to be replaced by 
another Governor. I was a Governor. I can't imagine running an 
administration a year into my term if I didn't have two-thirds of my 
appointees serving in office.
  The Presiding Officer, I know--I will end very briefly--is an 
extraordinarily valuable member of the Intelligence Committee. We see 
America's national security concerns on a daily basis. Those national 
security concerns will be better met when every major nation in the 
world has an American Ambassador. It is great that we have State 
Department personnel, but without that Ambassador in these offices--
Amanda is not up for ambassadorship, but there are a host of 
Ambassadors in critical nations that need to be confirmed.
  I hope--as we wind down these last few days of this session before 
the end of the year, I implore my friends on the Republican side, give 
these folks who have waited for months and months and months a kind of 
assurance of their ability to serve, especially when they are 
noncontroversial. Please remove their objections. Stop objecting. Let's 
let the government have these people, personnel in place. I hope Amanda 
Howe will be one of those. I look forward to my friend from Utah 
resolving this issue.
  I thank the Presiding Officer for listening to my extra 5 minutes.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). The Senator from Iowa.