[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 217 (Thursday, December 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9243-S9249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Unanimous Consent Requests

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask that it be in order to make the 
same request with respect to Calendar No. 550, Max Veckich to be the 
Federal Maritime Commissioner for a term expiring June 30, 2026.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Reserving the right to object, as my colleague 
is aware, I have an outstanding request with the Commerce Committee, 
which

[[Page S9244]]

my colleague chairs, for us to hear testimony from Commerce Secretary 
Raimondo and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg or their Senate-
confirmed leadership about the supply chain crisis.
  I have been clear that until we hear from these Agency leaders, 
either in the Commerce Committee or in an open meeting, that I would be 
holding all Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce 
nominees from moving forward in an expedited manner.
  We have had crisis after crisis due to the failed leadership of 
President Biden and his appointees. Just look at the inflation crisis 
caused by the Democrats' reckless spending that is hurting families and 
putting too many Americans in the position of deciding whether to fill 
their gas tank, heat their house this winter, or put food on the table.
  Just this week, I spoke with a veteran in Land O' Lakes, FL. He is a 
small business owner, and he has seen prices on raw materials rise by 
50 percent just this year. Even though he has seen greater demand, he 
is not making more money because of the rising prices.
  If he tries to pass those costs on to his customers, he will lose 
business. On top of that, rising gas prices are making it difficult to 
afford taking his kids to basketball and karate practices.
  I have also talked to an operator of a food bank in Osceola, FL. She 
used to see 15 families each day, and now she is seeing upward of 70 
families each day.
  Food prices have gone through the roof, making it more expensive for 
her to get food to give to people who are hurting at the very time 
demand is up. I talked to a mom in Punta Gorda, FL. Her gas costs have 
more than doubled, and her monthly grocery budget doesn't go as far as 
it used to.
  Recently, she has started visiting her local food pantry once a month 
so she has enough to feed her kids. That is something she has never had 
to do before. These are real Floridians who are hurting. Thank goodness 
for organizations like food pantries and everyone else who is helping 
families who are struggling because the Biden administration has spent 
months doing nothing to solve this crisis.
  In fact, they are actively hurting them as inflation rises to record 
highs and is threatening to rise even more as Biden pushes his reckless 
tax-and-spend agenda.
  I cannot and I will not consent to allowing these nominees to move 
forward in an expedited manner. We should take a vote so every Senator 
can get on the record with their support or opposition to these 
nominees.
  Therefore, Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I think my colleague knows darn well the 
President of the United States has been doing something about this. 
That is why he used his leadership to make sure that we made major 
infrastructure investment so we could move products. That is why he has 
gotten the ports to work 24 hours to move product more expeditiously.
  That is why he has been focused on all of the infrastructure needs in 
moving our country forward and continuing to deal with chokepoints, 
whether they are on the highways, our ports, or our rail system.
  My colleague knows, too, that the Secretary of Transportation and the 
Secretary of Commerce--whom I am sure he has talked to--are working 
very diligently on this. I am sure they are willing to talk to him.
  There is no secret here. There is the administration and a bipartisan 
group of people who are working together to try to solve these issues, 
but there are those on the other side of the aisle, probably those who 
didn't support the infrastructure investment, who also don't support 
having people spend the money and make the investments.
  I am going to yield to my colleagues who are also here to try to move 
some of these important nominees to make this investment work in the 
United States.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Shortly, I will request unanimous consent to confirm the 
nomination of Mr. Chris Coes to be Assistant Secretary for Policy at 
the Department of Transportation.
  As we have discussed, we face supply chain challenges created by 
several compounding factors, increased demand for goods, a growing 
reliance on e-commerce, as well as production and labor market 
disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Additionally, we have underinvested in our freight infrastructure for 
decades. The bipartisan infrastructure law reverses that trend. It 
provides a historic $567 billion for the Department of Transportation. 
This includes $37 billion for freight infrastructure investments.
  The Department of Transportation will be responsible for implementing 
and managing these funds, including INFRA and the Port Infrastructure 
Development Program. The Department needs leaders like Mr. Coes to 
coordinate implementation of these programs and get the funding 
Congress has approved out to the States and local governments.
  Mr. Coes is very qualified to serve as Assistant Secretary for 
Transportation Policy for the Department of Transportation, having 
served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation 
Policy.
  He received strong and bipartisan support in the Commerce Committee. 
In fact, there are several nominees, including Mr. Coes, who have been 
passed out of the Commerce Committee with bipartisan support for key 
posts at the Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, 
the Surface Transportation Board, and the Federal Maritime Commission 
who all play integral roles in addressing the ongoing supply chain 
issues.
  And yet some of our Republican colleagues are refusing to provide 
these Agencies with the leadership resources necessary to help address 
the supply chain crisis.
  The issues facing our supply chain are complex and have been years in 
the making. They will not be fixed overnight, and that is why it is 
important to have confirmed, sustained leadership at the Agencies 
responsible for helping to address these multifaceted issues over the 
next several years.
  So I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to 
Executive Calendar No. 549, Christopher A. Coes to be Assistant 
Secretary of Transportation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I still can't understand, if the 
Biden administration is doing so many things, why wouldn't they want to 
come brag about it? Why wouldn't they want to tell all Americans 
exactly what they are doing?
  The reason they don't want to do it is it is not getting better. I am 
still hearing day in and day out from people all over my State who are 
hurting because the Biden administration is not doing anything to solve 
the supply chain crisis.
  Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of Meera 
Joshi to be the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration.
  Now, there may be some folks out there who are not familiar with this 
Agency, but I can tell you Montanans are. I can tell you commercial 
truckers are because this is an Agency that is critical to tackling our 
supply chain issues and lowering costs for American families. Let me 
repeat that again because this issue has been brought up before.
  This Agency, of which Ms. Joshi is to be the head of, is critical to 
attacking our supply chain issues and lowering the costs for American 
families.
  In my real life, I am a farmer. I use a Peterbilt truck to get my 
product to market, my food to market, so I know more about this than 
the average person who serves in the Senate.
  And I know what a huge role that trucking plays in our supply chain 
and our economy. And I am going to tell you, the American trucker is 
one of the hardest working people in this country. I know that because 
I tried to do it for a while. It is hard work.
  They have been on the frontlines of this pandemic delivering goods to 
every corner of this country. And a strong and a stable, safe trucking 
workforce that offers good-paying jobs

[[Page S9245]]

to millions of truckdrivers is a critical lifeblood of our economy.
  Our quality of life in this country is simply not possible without 
the hard work that truckdrivers put in day and night. They deserve more 
credit than they get.
  And there are a lot of challenges out there: our outdated 
infrastructure, the COVID-19 pandemic, a historic--a historic--volume 
of goods moving through our economy that have strained capacity across 
our supply chain, including trucking.
  The Agency is critical in ensuring that goods moving by truck do it 
safely and efficiently.
  Now, as the chairman of the Commerce Committee has already pointed 
out, the President last month signed the bipartisan infrastructure 
package into law. It included $568 billion in transportation funding 
that will improve freight bottlenecks, ease chokepoints across ports, 
rails, and highways.
  The middle-class markets in China and India are expected to be worth 
a combined $26 trillion by 2030. Now, if we want to grow this U.S. 
economy, maintain our position as an economic world leader, we must be 
able to grow our reach to those huge market opportunities.
  The bipartisan infrastructure package also included parts of my HAULS 
Act. The HAULS Act will cut burdensome hour-of-service requirements so 
that Montana's egg and livestock haulers can do their jobs and do their 
jobs safely, but we need a head of the Federal Motor Carriers Safety 
Administration to be able to say that earnestly.
  If we are going to effectively implement these new guidelines that 
will boost our economy in rural America and across this country, we 
need to confirm Ms. Joshi as soon as possible, which is why I am here 
tonight.
  Ms. Joshi is a qualified nominee to lead this Agency. She passed 
through the Senate Commerce Committee with overwhelming bipartisan 
support. She is backed by the trucking industry.
  It is unfortunate that a few of my colleagues--a minority of the 
minority--are blocking this confirmation at a time when we need 
transportation and commerce Agencies fully staffed and empowered to 
carry out their work, reducing costs for families, smoothing the supply 
chain, and growing our economy.
  The Senate has had an opportunity to address supply chain issues and 
lower costs by confirming this nominee. I am going to say it again. The 
Senate has an opportunity tonight to address supply chain issues and 
lower costs by confirming this nominee.
  There is absolutely no reason to keep this critical position vacant, 
and I urge my colleagues to support her confirmation tonight.
  Mr. President, I would also ask that it be in order to make the same 
request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 464, Meera Joshi, to be 
Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, 
you know, my father was an over-the-road truckdriver. He drove for 
Admiral Freight Line. My uncle was an over-the-road truckdriver. He 
drove for a consolidated freight line.
  I watched the difficulties my father and my uncle had performing 
their jobs, and it was at a time when truckers weren't paid well, and, 
actually, most truckers were laid off by Thanksgiving because most of 
the goods were there for the Christmas season.
  In my father's case, I don't remember a Christmas that my dad was 
actively working. So I think it is very, very important that we do 
everything we can to help truckers, and I am glad that truckers today 
are paid better than they were back when my father and my uncle drove.
  My uncle actually died in a trucking accident. So I think it is very 
important that we do everything we can to support our truckers. And 
what I still can't understand is why the Commerce Committee does not 
want to hear exactly what the Secretary of Transportation or the 
Secretary of Commerce is doing to help our truckers. What are they 
doing to improve the supply chain?
  You would think they would want to come down here to say exactly what 
they have done to make the life of truckers better so that we get more 
people in trucking rather than less.
  So I think we should--I cannot allow these nominees to go forward in 
an expedited manner. Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. So if you truly want to help the trucking industry, and 
it sounds like you have personal experience with it--the good Senator 
from Florida--putting the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration would be a great start. If you want to reduce the 
problems with our supply chain, putting a head into the Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration would be a great start. If you want to 
make our roads safer for everybody--truckers, cars, everybody--I would 
say putting in the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration would be a good start.
  I am going to tell you that the objections of the good Senator from 
Florida ring hollow. I have heard the good Senator from Florida stand 
up in committee and stand up on this floor and talk about how the 
administration--this administration--has failed. Yet that very same 
person who claims that this administration has failed is standing up 
here and perpetuating the problems that we have because we can't get 
Agencies staffed up. This is ridiculous.
  So you ask yourself: Why can't the Department of Transportation and 
Department of Commerce come before the committee?
  Look, we are all U.S. Senators here. Pick up the phone. Give him a 
call.
  With this kind of attitude--you talked about the fact that food was 
going up. Why aren't we demanding the Secretary of Agriculture show up?
  You said there are small business problems. Why aren't we demanding 
the Small Business Administration show up?
  This could go on forever.
  If you really want to fix a problem, let's look for solutions. And 
the solutions we have here tonight--this one--is to confirm Ms. Meera 
Joshi to the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration.
  We can make excuses all the time about why we are going to do this, 
why we are going to do that. Pick up the phone. Give them a call. Ask 
them to meet with you.
  That is all it would take. You don't need to shut down the whole 
administration, shut down the Motor Carriers by not putting the head 
in.
  This is ridiculous.
  Mr. President, I now want to speak of my support for the nomination 
of Amitabha Bose to be Administrator of the Federal Railroad 
Administration.
  Consisting of almost 140,000 miles of railroad track, the U.S. 
freight rail network is the largest in the world and carries 1.4 
billion tons of freight every year worth $430 billion to our economy.
  Some estimate that the global demand for freight will triple by 2050, 
which is why we need to improve the capacity for our system to meet the 
supply chain needs of today and prepare for the future.
  Last month, as the chair of the Commerce Committee has already 
pointed out, the President signed my bipartisan infrastructure package 
into law that included $567 billion in transportation funding that will 
improve freight bottlenecks, ease chokepoints across our ports, 
railways, and highways. It will lower costs for families. It will grow 
our economy.

  Gosh, does this sound familiar? It is awful lot like the last 
nominee.
  And this legislation also includes the Right Track Act, which I 
support and which I sponsored. My bill addresses blocked rail 
crossings--by the way, a bipartisan bill--which improves rail safety at 
rural train crossings and addresses instances of blocked highway 
railroad crossings across the United States that put our families in 
danger and slow down our economy.
  I point that out because all too often we have accidents involving a 
train and a car. Get this person confirmed, and we can hold people 
accountable.
  The infrastructure package also included $15 million to study 
Amtrak's long-distance passenger rail travel service, including 
authorization to form working groups, like the Greater Northwest 
Passenger Rail Working Group, to study and advocate for increased 
access to long-distance passenger rail travel.

[[Page S9246]]

  These freight rail programs are administered by the FRA, and grants 
must get out the door as quickly as possible if we are going to get the 
bang for the dollar, if the taxpayer is going to get the bang for the 
dollar.
  Holding up Amit Bose's nomination risks delaying these critical 
resources from reaching local communities.
  Now, that might make some people in here happy. There was a bunch of 
folks--it passed by 69 votes, but there were 30-some folks that voted 
against it. So maybe they don't want this. Maybe they don't want 
infrastructure. Maybe they want to turn the keys of the economy over to 
China. Maybe that is what they want.
  But the fact is that these critical resources will end up enriching 
our communities, improving our freight rail service, and growing our 
economy.
  Additionally, the FRA is working closely with railroads to provide 
regulatory expertise and assistance to ensure that significant 
operational changes--including setting up new rail yards that can help 
move goods across our country, solving the supply chain problem--is 
done both quickly and safely.
  Mr. Bose is a very qualified nominee to lead the FRA, having 
previously worked in multiple roles at FRA, including Deputy 
Administrator, Chief Counsel, Senior Adviser, and Director of 
Governmental Affairs.
  He, too, received a strong bipartisan support in committee and, in 
fact, advanced by a voice vote.
  Once again, it is unfortunate--and maybe it won't happen on this 
one--that some of my colleagues are blocking nominees from confirmation 
at a time when we can't afford to leave our Agencies understaffed, and 
they are blocking it because of supply chain issues and because of the 
high costs for small business. And with the blockage of these nominees, 
what is ending up happening is that the supply chain issues will get 
worse, which, maybe, that is what they want.
  But that is not why I am here. I am here to get things done, to move 
this country forward. I know what China is doing right now, and it is 
why we had 69 people vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
  But if we leave the Agencies understaffed, then maybe that is going 
to help somebody. I don't know who it is going to help. But there is no 
reason to keep this critical position vacant, and I would urge my 
colleagues to support his confirmation.
  Therefore, I would ask that it be in order to make the same request 
with respect to Executive Calendar No. 465, Amitabha Bose to be 
Director of the Federal Railroad Administration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, 
you know, my colleagues keep talking about the infrastructure bill. The 
difference between their infrastructure bill and what we did while I 
was Governor of Florida is this: I actually spent our infrastructure 
money on roads, bridges, airports, and seaports, and, at the same time, 
we spent $85 billion in 8 years in one State doing that. We also cut 
taxes and fees 100 times, and we actually reduced our debt by a third, 
over $10 billion.
  The infrastructure bill--the so-called infrastructure bill--had less 
than 50 percent of it in infrastructure. People said it was paid for, 
and it wasn't.
  So I am glad people want to keep saying that it is a so-called 
infrastructure bill, but let's remember: It wasn't paid for; they said 
it was. And it wasn't all for roads, bridges, airports, and seaports, 
which is what they said it was in the beginning.
  So, therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, facts are a nasty thing. Do you know that?
  I would ask the good Senator from Florida to read the damn bill. This 
bill is to put money into roads and bridges, to put money into our 
electrical grid, to put money into our ports, to make our ports safer, 
to put money into water systems--the list goes on and on and on.

  For you to say that 50 percent of this bill is all that goes into 
infrastructure is not factual at all, and I will debate you on that 
until midnight tonight and longer--until Christmas Eve, because it is 
not factual.
  But I will tell you what is factual: The fact is that you, the good 
Senator from Florida, have stopped Amit Bose from being Administrator 
of the Federal Railroad Administration, thereby stopping any sort of 
improvements in the supply chain that we have, thereby stopping any 
sort of lowering of costs for small businesses and working families in 
this country. That is a fact.
  And if you would like to respond to that, I would be more than happy 
to yield.
  That is a fact. The truth is the same people who stand up here and 
say this administration has got problems are creating those problems, 
because a minority of the minority are stopping good people from being 
in positions in this administration. That is a fact.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, first of all, facts are facts. 
Less than 50 percent of the bill had anything to do with roads and 
bridges, airports and seaports.
  We were told all along it was going to be paid for; it wasn't. The 
Congressional Budget Office confirmed that.
  So facts are facts.
  On top of that, the majority leader could have, if these were 
important nominees, as my colleagues keep saying they are, they could 
have filed cloture and done these nominees.
  I mean, think of what we have done this last 2 weeks that we have 
been up here. Very few nominees have come through.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Very crafty--fifty percent is used on roads, bridges, and 
seaports, and you make it sound like the rest isn't used on 
infrastructure.
  Since when did water not become infrastructure? Since when did 
improving our transmission lines not become infrastructure?
  The fact of the matter is this bill is a really good bill, and that 
is why 69 people in this Senate voted for it, and it did not raise 
taxes on a single American family.
  You can make excuses all you want, but the facts are this: That 
infrastructure bill will help set us up for a vibrant economy for 
generations to come, and the most important thing that infrastructure 
bill will do is it will help us compete with China, unless you want to 
give the reserve currency to them.
  And the fact of the matter is, unless the Agencies are staffed up, we 
can't implement that infrastructure bill. And if that is the impetus 
for this, shame on the folks who have objected to this, because the 
last time I checked, we are U.S. Senators, and we are not here for 
ourselves. We are here for this Nation, to make this Nation great, to 
keep this Nation great, to move this Nation forward.
  Our forefathers worked to do that. They didn't have these kinds of 
silly arguments on the Senate floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, so I think my colleague doesn't 
understand that when you borrow money, you eventually have to pay it 
back.
  The government doesn't produce income. It takes money from people. 
That means that when that bill--the so-called infrastructure bill--runs 
deficits, somebody's taxes are going up. Whether they go up today or 
tomorrow, they are going to go up.
  And, by the way, it is part of why the Democrats had to raise the 
debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion, and that is $2.5 trillion that Americans 
families are going to have to pay for.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. So are you suggesting we shouldn't raise the debt and not 
pay our debts and default? Is that the suggestion?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I would do what I did in 
Florida. I walked into a $4 billion budget deficit. I balanced the 
budget. I cuts taxes and fees 100 times. I paid off a third of the 
State debt. I never increased my State debt. I actually cut it by $10.5 
billion. That is exactly what we ought to be doing here. We can't keep 
wasting money because somebody is going to pay for it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.

[[Page S9247]]

  

  Mr. TESTER. Did the good Senator vote for the CARES Act?
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Say again?
  Mr. TESTER. Did the good Senator from Florida vote for the CARES Act?
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Absolutely.
  Mr. TESTER. Was it paid for?
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Part of it. Last year, what we did was suspend 
the debt ceiling.
  Mr. TESTER. Yes, it wasn't paid for. It added to the debt. Had the 
good Senator been here when we passed the Trump tax cuts, that also 
added $2 trillion a year to the debt, and he would have justified that.
  If you want to talk about building our economy, there are two things 
you could do to build our economy: No. 1 is to invest in 
infrastructure, and the other one is to invest in education and 
workforce training.
  If we are going to get the infrastructure part of this stuff out the 
door, we cannot have a minority of the minority on the other side 
continuing to object to people in the very Agencies that will help get 
this infrastructure built up. That is the truth.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, my experience is totally 
different than my colleague from Montana's experience.
  My experience is you build your economy by growing jobs. You build 
your economy by investing in education, where you get a return. So, in 
my 8 years as Governor of Florida, we added 1.7 million jobs. We cut 
taxes and revenues grew. It allowed us to make record investments in 
education, in transportation, and in the environment. By the time I 
left office in Florida, we had the second lowest tuition of higher 
education in the country. According to the U.S. News & World Report, we 
were No. 1 in education, but we did it by getting a return on all of 
the dollars. We didn't do it by just spending money without getting a 
return.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I heard the Senator from Florida just say 
that he invested in education, workforce training, and infrastructure. 
If he would have not had an administration that would have been able to 
have gotten that money out the door, then he wouldn't have been able to 
have succeeded. All we are asking is that we offer the President of the 
United States and this Nation, as a whole, that same opportunity.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, my colleague from Montana is making some 
great points in this debate.
  I can't emphasize this enough to my colleague from Florida, a member 
of our committee. He knows how hard we have all worked on these. He 
knows how bipartisan this effort was. He knows that he is not joined by 
a bunch of other colleagues here tonight, you know, in making these 
objections. It is because they want these nominees. They voted for 
them.
  To come from a State like mine, where one in four jobs is related to 
trade, it is all about infrastructure. It is about our ports, our 
airports, our railroads, our roads. It is about getting the products 
from Montana out to the Pacific and to those destinations. It is all 
about making this infrastructure investment, and we finally have a 
President who is willing to put everything on the line to get us back 
to making an infrastructure investment that is more than 1 percent of 
GDP and who is smart enough to know that those ports and everything 
else are not going to function well and that we are not going to be 
competitive with Canada or with South America or with other places if 
we don't make this investment.
  Well, now we have made it. We have made the investment. Now, we just 
need the people to execute on it, and our colleague doesn't want those 
individuals to be part of this process. He is not ready for them.
  Everybody gets frustrated with the position of an administration. 
Everybody wants to hear from a nominee. I have called nominees. You 
would think that some of those people might call me, but, no, I have 
had to pick up the phone and call them and say: Here is what my concern 
is. Where are you going to be on this issue? What are you going to do 
about this problem?
  Did I have everything guaranteed? Did I have every policy that I 
wanted to see for that nominee? No, but I picked up the phone and got 
the commitment that I needed to see things through and get things 
moving.
  So, now, the fact that we have these nominees who continue to be 
held, as my colleague said, by a minority of the minority because they 
don't want to see the infrastructure investments that we have already 
voted on put in place is just really holding up government. It is just 
holding it up.
  I think the President deserves to have his nominees. We deserve to 
get to vote on them. We deserve to give the President of the United 
States our opinion, but we also deserve to have these nominees voted on 
and not held in this process so that the government--so the actual 
functioning of the infrastructure bill--can't be implemented even 
though the majority of the Senate voted that way.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make 
the same request of Executive Calendar No. 468, Mohsin Raza Syed, of 
Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
  Let's remember why I am here.
  For weeks, I have been asking the chair of the Commerce Committee to 
invite the Secretaries of Transportation and Commerce to come tell us 
what they are doing to fix this supply chain crisis. We still have 100 
cargo ships off the coast of California. Is it getting better? No, it 
is not getting better. I was on a call this week, and I did not hear 
one thing that has been done to solve this supply chain crisis.
  When I was the Governor of Florida, we had hurricanes. We had to work 
hard to make sure we didn't run out of fuel. To make that happen, what 
we would do is we would put everybody together. I often went to the 
ports to make sure that we got the fuel through, and we did. We got it 
done.
  I have not seen the Secretary of Transportation go out to the Port of 
Palm Beach to solve any problems at all. I have not heard of anything 
the Secretary of Commerce has done to go out to California and solve 
this supply chain crisis. On these nominees, cloture could have been 
filed by the majority leader. For whatever reason, the majority leader 
decided not to do it.
  Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, my colleague knows very well that, just 
yesterday, the Deputy Secretaries of Commerce, Transportation, and 
Agriculture met with--and it may have been on a Zoom call or on the 
phone--Senators to talk about exactly what is going on to help work on 
the supply chain. The Senator knows very well. Now, he may not have 
liked exactly what he heard in the outcome, but there are no harder 
working people than the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of 
Transportation in implementing the things that need to be implemented 
to keep our country moving.
  The problem, I think, is that the Senator from Florida may not 
understand that there is a huge upside. We just had a hearing yesterday 
with all of the airlines, and we acted on the Payroll Support Program. 
The end result of that has been a big boon to our economy because they 
were there and in place to capture the upside when the vaccines worked 
and the flying public returned. So we, the United States of America, 
have outdone Europe and Asia and Canada. Basically, the upside is 
having our air transportation system now back up to 90 percent of 
capacity. We did that because we acted. We made an investment, and the 
investment is paying off, and it kept a workforce that otherwise would 
have been on unemployment benefits.
  So this administration is working. This administration is working, 
and it needs people to help them implement the bill we just passed. The 
administration has been working with major ports to have night and 
weekend cargo operations. It has been working with companies to improve 
the transparency of

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logistics and pricing. It has been working with shippers to get the 
cargo and containers in and out of the ports faster.
  He is urging some of the largest shippers--Walmart, Target, Home 
Depot, Samsung, FedEx, and UPS--to commit to moving cargo during off-
peak hours and making those commitments.
  Two major railroads--Union Pacific and BNSF--have announced that they 
will create new incentives for cargo owners to move cargo on the 
weekends.
  CMA CGM--one of the largest carriers--has begun providing $100 
discounts on the containers if they are picked up immediately, which is 
helping move them off the docks. One of the problems is that empty 
containers have been left on the docks, and this has caused congestion 
at the ports. So the administration has worked with these carriers to 
help incent people who have been part of the shipping system to get 
that product off of the docks. We have begun to see positive results 
from this.
  This month, the CEOs of the major retailers told President Biden that 
the supply chain conditions have begun to show signs of improvement. 
This is from the major retailers.
  As to the issues that we are focusing on here, we are talking to two 
people who are out fixing the problem. The Senator had a chance to talk 
to their Deputies about this. These are people who are definitely 
available to be talked to about this problem. Yet they are asking us to 
continue to have a workforce.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make 
the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 469, Victoria 
Marie Baecher Wassmer, of the District of Columbia, to be Chief 
Financial Officer, Department of Transportation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
  First, I want to thank my colleague from Washington for holding the 
hearing with the airlines, and there are two things about that.
  I was surprised that I didn't get a very good answer from the 
airlines about, did we get a return on the--what?--$54 billion we 
provided the airline industry? I was extremely disappointed that United 
Airlines was cavalier with the employees in my State who were basically 
let go or laid off without pay only because they decided not to get the 
vaccine for religious purposes.
  In coming back to this issue, I still am waiting for the Secretary of 
Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce to come to a public event 
so all of our constituents in my State can hear exactly what they are 
doing to solve the supply chain problem. I can tell you that I was on 
this phone call, and this problem is not getting better. There are 
still 100 cargo ships off the coast of California. I want to hear 
exactly what they are doing and so do the citizens of my State.
  Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, these nominees we are talking about are 
nominees who are literally just the people who are going to help get 
these things done within the Agencies. The Senator is basically denying 
people the ability to have analysis, to talk about competition, to talk 
about the effective strategies that we need to put in place.
  The Commerce Committee has had three hearings on the supply chain. In 
fact, we had some fabulous testimony, starting in--I think it was--
February or March, about the supply chain. It was a fabulous panel of 
experts, and it was about the complexity of what was happening to the 
supply chain and what our problems were going to be.
  The one thing that is clear is that this isn't an issue for just 
COVID; that this isn't an issue for just this administration; and that 
this isn't an issue even for the next, you know, few years. This is an 
issue about the fact that, in the world economy in 2019, prior to the 
pandemic, something miraculous happened: The majority of the population 
of the world reached middle class. That meant the majority of people 
outside the United States was going to be a huge market opportunity for 
our goods and our products. It is a huge economic opportunity that 95 
percent of consumers are outside the United States. That means we have 
to get things to those markets cost-effectively and competitively.
  For us in Seattle, the Port of Seattle has to compete with the Port 
of Vancouver. The Port of Vancouver and the infrastructure of--Canada 
has made all sorts of infrastructure investment all across Canada with 
rail and port investment so that they can have the state of the art and 
so that it can be cheaper to ship through Canada than the United 
States. The same thing is happening in South America and other parts of 
the world. This is about who is going to reach the Asian market and how 
fast they are going to reach the Asian market.
  The infrastructure investment was critical. It was critical to making 
sure that our railroads worked, that our ports worked, that our motor 
carriers had the right people and had the right safety. This was, 
literally, upgrading our infrastructure that had been ignored--
basically kept on life support--for so long, and now, we have a 
President and a bipartisan group of people who are going to make the 
investment. So the fact that those Agencies now need people--even the 
next nominee we are talking about--it is just literally about making 
investments so that they can figure out the strategy and the strategy 
moving forward on these individuals.
  I don't understand why so many of these nominees my colleague has to 
object to because these nominees are individuals who are part of our 
infrastructure investment and, in this case, are part of where we are 
with the Department of Commerce in understanding what is even happening 
in the supply chain and what we also want to do.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make 
the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 355, Grant T. 
Harris, of California, to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President reserving the right to object.
  I want to be clear. I like infrastructure. I spent $85 billion on 
infrastructure. With $10 billion a year, we had a dramatic increase in 
infrastructure. It is part of the reason we added 1.7 million jobs. I 
also did a lot of work to try to make sure we increased trade in 
Florida. We have 15 seaports. I believe in all of this.
  I also believe we have a supply chain crisis right now. It is not 
getting better. I am shocked that my colleague does not want to ask the 
Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce to explain to 
the American public why this is not getting better.
  Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. We are here on whatever today is--December 16. We are 
here, you know, as Congress careens toward trying to get some work done 
before we break for the holiday season.
  I am sure that my colleague knows very well where the administration 
is on getting its nominees. We are not even the only committee that is 
out here on a weekly basis complaining about the number of nominees who 
are not allowed to serve. Even though they come out of committee with 
bipartisan support, they are not being allowed to be taken up and acted 
upon.
  We have had people out here from the Foreign Affairs Committee. We 
have had nominees. We have had various committees--the HELP Committee. 
So we are just here now talking about the Transportation Committee.
  So, yes, we have a minority within the minority that doesn't want the 
administration to have the nominees it needs to get things done. In 
this case, it is infrastructure. The importance of that is that the 
majority of people voted for infrastructure. The majority of people 
have voted for these nominees, and these nominees deserve to get in 
their place so that individuals can do their work.
  If the Senator from Florida doesn't want to support--didn't want to 
support the infrastructure bill, doesn't believe that it was done just 
like he

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would do it, I would ask him to consider the fact that his colleagues, 
the majority of whom did support it, are now going to be delayed in 
getting those resources out the door.
  Now, maybe that is what he wants. Maybe he is playing a game of the 
calendar. He is just hoping that those nominees won't ever get into 
these spots, that it will take forever for us to get these programs 
implemented. Our economy can't wait for that. Our economy and the 
investments that we all decided to make can't wait for this kind of 
gamesmanship. The small businesses that my colleague from Montana 
talked about can't wait for that gamesmanship.
  I guarantee you those Secretaries will be in front of the Commerce 
Committee in the new year at some point in time. I guarantee it. That 
is what happens around here. I am pretty sure they will be asked these 
questions. I am sure they are asked these questions every single day. I 
am pretty sure they would take a call from my colleague tonight or 
tomorrow. I am pretty sure they would have the input from him that he 
would want to give in these situations.
  But this is an issue about whether you are for the infrastructure 
investment and whether you are for making that a reality by having the 
people whom it takes to implement it. And if you don't have CFOs, if 
you don't have the Administrators of the Agencies, if you don't have 
the people who are targeted to do the investment, I am not sure how you 
can do it.
  One of those nominees, Arun Venkataraman, currently serves as a 
counselor to the Secretary of Commerce on trade and international 
matters. He has more than 20 years of experience in working on these 
issues and is somebody who could benefit us in this analysis of the 
challenges that we are facing to get our products into these markets 
and get them into these markets quickly.
  So I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to make the same 
request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 586, Arun Venkataraman 
to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the 
United States and Foreign Commercial Service.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Reserving the right to object, the one thing 
that has not been addressed is, if this were so important, why didn't 
my colleagues go to the majority leader--same party--and ask him to 
file cloture on these nominees?
  I still also have never been told why, when I have been asking for 
this for weeks, these two Secretaries won't show up and tell my 
citizens why they can't solve the supply chain problem. Therefore, I 
object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I think we have had a good discussion of 
exactly what these individuals--the Secretary of Commerce and the 
Secretary of Transportation--have been doing. They have been making 
their deputies available for conversations about supply chains. We have 
had supply chain hearings. We will continue to address this issue. I am 
pretty sure they will take his phone call.
  I am pretty sure that the reason we are out here is because when the 
other side of the aisle holds up so many nominees, there are only so 
many cloture motions that you can file. But I guess we will be here 
this weekend, and we will find out exactly how many cloture motions and 
how long it will take to continue to get these nominees.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.