[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 11, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S131-S132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXECUTIVE CALENDAR--Continued The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from 
                              Washington.


                      Nomination of Alan Davidson

  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of our next 
vote, the nominee to head the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration at the Department of Commerce, Alan 
Davidson.
  My colleagues know now, in an information age, how important access 
to broadband is. They know because of COVID-19 how important it is for 
healthcare, how important it is for education, and how important it is 
for people to have the flexibility in all parts of the United States to 
have access to the ability to connect and to connect with people around 
the world.
  We have long talked about the need for an NTIA Administrator who 
understands the public sector and understands the private sector. Mr. 
Davidson does that. He comes to us with a wealth of experience in both 
sectors, and he is coming at a time when my colleagues have been asking 
for more leadership from the administration on broadband issues. That 
is to say, many of my colleagues, like Senator Wicker, Senator 
Klobuchar, and many others, have asked for coordination between various 
programs that exist within the Department of Commerce, the Department 
of Agriculture, and the issues in coordination with the FCC and 
oversight of their programs to better maximize the delivery of 
broadband.
  The Presiding Officer knows how much money is now on the table for 
broadband. We all know that this implementation is going to take a very 
skilled hand at trying to address both the issues of affordability and 
access. But more importantly, we will be getting with Mr. Davidson 
somebody who understands these issues well and will help us strive to 
get America better connected as quickly as possible.

[[Page S132]]

  We can't say enough about how important that is as COVID-19 continues 
across the United States of America with different variants. I am not 
saying it is going to be the new normal and continue for the next 
several years, but we know this: We need Mr. Davidson's help. We need 
his help effectively and speedily to get broadband deployed to both 
sectors of our economy--those who are unserved and those who are 
underserved.
  We look forward to advancing this nominee and putting him to work as 
quickly as possible, and I personally look forward to working with him 
on these very important issues. There is much to do to leverage the 
dollars we have made available, but we have to work cooperatively with 
all parts of the United States to make that a reality.
  Nothing could be more important now to upgrading U.S. infrastructure 
than getting fiber deployed, getting broadband to American homes, and 
making our grid more secure. With all of these things, I look forward 
to working with Mr. Davidson, and I appreciate his comments to me about 
his commitment to those issues as well.
  I yield the floor.


                      Vote on Davidson Nomination

  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
scheduled vote occur immediately.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Davidson 
nomination?
  Ms. CANTWELL. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. 
Feinstein), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator 
from Oregon (Mr. Merkley), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Ossoff), the 
Senator from California (Mr. Padilla), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. 
Sanders), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily 
absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. 
Hyde-Smith).
  The result was announced--yeas 60, nays 31, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 4 Ex.]

                                YEAS--60

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Inhofe
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Leahy
     Lee
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--31

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Braun
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Ernst
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lummis
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Paul
     Risch
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Thune
     Toomey
     Tuberville

                             NOT VOTING--9

     Cassidy
     Feinstein
     Hyde-Smith
     Klobuchar
     Merkley
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Sanders
     Warnock
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________