[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1208-S1209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of C.S. Eliot Kang

  Mr. President, finally, there is a danger that Putin will unleash a 
chemical weapons attack against Ukraine. The Bureau of International 
Security and Nonproliferation has a crucial role to play here, not just 
to prevent the spread of chemical weapons but to help safeguard all 
nuclear materials and facilities in Ukraine. To do this, the nominee to 
be Assistant Secretary for that Bureau--International Security and 
Nonproliferation--Dr. Eliot Kang, would work with the Ukrainian 
Government, our allies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. But 
because of Republican delays, he has not yet been confirmed, despite 
the fact that he was nominated 328 days ago--328 days ago. Think about 
that. That was almost a year ago, and he has not yet been confirmed.
  Because we cannot wait, because the people of Ukraine cannot wait, I 
rise to seek unanimous consent for the confirmation of these four 
nominees. Each of them moved through the Foreign Relations Committee 
with bipartisan support. There is no reason for Republicans to block 
their confirmation. The situation in Ukraine is dire, and our national 
security demands it.
  Because of that, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 462, 783, and 784; that 
the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action 
or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid 
upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any 
statements related to the nominations 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 Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, 
the Biden administration has failed to properly oversee the Pan 
American Health Organization, or PAHO. President Biden and Secretary 
Blinken know that PAHO has cooperated with the communist regime in Cuba 
to traffic doctors overseas, and they know that there are Cuban doctors 
who are trying to sue PAHO and hold their traffickers accountable.
  Here are the facts: In July 2013, the Cuban Ministry of Health signed 
an agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Health to formalize an 
arrangement for Cuban doctors to provide medical services in Brazil. 
That agreement required the administration of former Brazilian 
President Dilma Rousseff to transmit a monthly payment through PAHO to 
the Cuban Ministry of Health for the medical services provided by each 
Cuban doctor serving in Brazil. It also prevented Cuban doctors from 
seeking employment in Brazil outside of the formal structure of the 
agreement.
  More than 20,000 Cuban medical professionals serving in Brazil under 
the Mais Medicos Program had their wages stolen by the Cuban Government 
and received only a small fraction of what they earned. Their family 
members were prohibited from accompanying them, and many had their 
passports confiscated.
  Cuban doctors were the only medical professionals participating in 
the Mais Medicos Program who had their salaries directly garnished by 
their government. Meanwhile, doctors from other countries serving in 
Brazil received the full wages for their medical services.
  Other Cuban doctors suffered similar abuses in Angola, Guatemala, 
Mexico, Qatar, and Venezuela. For example, in 2019, a group of Cuban 
doctors reported that they had been directed and often coerced to use 
their medical services to influence votes in favor of the Maduro 
regime, including by denying medical treatment to opposition supporters 
and by giving precise voting instructions to elderly patients.
  This gross program is a huge moneymaker for the communist ruling 
thugs in Cuba. In 2018 alone, they deposited more than $6.3 billion 
from exporting Cuban professionals to work overseas, and medical 
missions by Cuban doctors represent a majority of those profits.
  Since I came to the Senate in 2019, I have been fighting for these 
Cuban doctors and against human trafficking. I know my colleague from 
New Jersey has also voiced concerns about this issue in the past, but 
nothing has been done to hold PAHO accountable. PAHO is hiding behind 
legal immunity. President Biden has the power to lift their immunity, 
and I have requested this administration to do so multiple times, but 
they have shamefully declined.
  It is wrong. Victims of trafficking deserve to see their alleged 
abusers in court, and PAHO should never be able to hide behind claims 
of immunity to avoid accountability for their role in facilitating 
those abuses.
  I have informed Secretary Blinken that until substantial steps toward 
fulfilling this request are made, I will be blocking all relevant State 
Department nominees.
  Americans deserve qualified and competent people in positions of 
power who put American interests first. If this administration wants to 
appease dictators, like they have with the Castro and Diaz-Canal 
regimes, I am going to hold them accountable.
  Therefore, Madam President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). Objection is heard.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I would like to ask the Senator from 
Florida, through the Chair, does the Assistant Administrator for Europe 
and Eurasia at USAID have anything to do with PAHO?
  Does the Assistant Secretary for International Security and 
Nonproliferation have anything to do with PAHO?
  I guess the Senator doesn't want to engage in a colloquy.
  Madam President, it is amazing to me. My colleagues who get up and 
applaud Zelenskyy, my colleagues who come to the Senate floor and talk 
about both the need to help Ukraine and the humanitarian realities that 
are compounding every day--and yet here we are with four pertinent, key 
positions that could help in regard to each and every one of those 
elements, and on some unrelated issue, not Ukraine, not even Europe, 
not about proliferation, not about humanitarian response, no, there is 
a wholesale objection.
  Now, if you wanted to pick your objection and target it, that might 
make sense, but I am deeply troubled that the junior Senator from 
Florida is once again obstructing the Senate's responsibility to 
provide advice and consent on Presidential nominations, not only 
preventing us from fulfilling our constitutional duties, but in this 
case, moreover, he is singlehandedly undermining the ability of the 
U.S. Government to respond fully to Russia's brutal invasion. In doing 
so, he seeks to singlehandedly damage our ability to ensure a 
coordinated international effort to sanction Putin, his cronies, 
sectors of the Russian Government.
  He is undercutting the U.S. Government's ability to support the 
Ukrainian people and our allies. He is undercutting our ability to 
provide and coordinate the humanitarian assistance for 3 million 
Ukrainians who have left and millions more who are inside the country 
and need help. It is mind-boggling--mind boggling. Get up, (applauds) 
and then come to the floor and object to the very things that can make 
it happen. Mind-boggling.
  Now, let me address the issue that the junior Senator from Florida 
has raised here today--the Cuban regime's trafficking of doctors and 
medical personnel. Simply put, the Diaz-Canel regime, like the Castro 
regime before it, does subject Cuban doctors to forced labor schemes 
abroad while pocketing the doctors' wages in profit-making schemes that 
generate billions of dollars annually.
  Now, I have been working on this issue since before my colleague ever 
held public office. I have engaged multiple administrations on this 
issue. I have actually authored legislation and resolutions on the 
subject. So my track record for standing up for Cuban doctors who are 
trafficked by the Cuban regime eclipses that of any other Member of 
Congress, period. But, my God, as passionate as I am about that issue--
no one would be more passionate

[[Page S1209]]

than me--it is not right to hold up everything we are trying to do on 
Ukraine.
  This is a global emergency. The fate of not only Ukraine but of 
democracy and its ability to achieve victory is under threat. And here 
we have objections to critical positions that can help us make sure 
that we win in that battle.