[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S1812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Lisa DeNell Cook

  Mr. President, now on the Cook nomination, today the Senate will 
continue its work of advancing President Biden's well-qualified 
nominees. Last night, I filed cloture on five additional nominees, and 
this morning the Senate will vote on a motion to discharge Ms. Lisa 
Cook from the Banking Committee. As a reminder, a motion to discharge 
is necessary in this Congress whenever a nominee receives a deadlocked 
vote in committee, so the steps we are taking later today are 
exceedingly important, but, frankly, it is unfortunate that they are 
necessary at all.
  Not very long ago, a nominee of Ms. Cook's qualifications would have 
sailed toward final confirmation with bipartisan support. She serves on 
the advisory board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and is a 
professor of Economics at Michigan State. Coming from humble beginnings 
in rural Georgia, where her family fought back against racial 
segregation, she would be the first Black woman ever to sit on the 
Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She is truly historic, in addition 
to being deeply qualified.
  For as much as Republicans talk about inflation, it is bewildering 
and totally discrediting for them to reflexively oppose a qualified 
nominee like Ms. Cook, precisely tasked with helping the Fed hold down 
costs and maintain strong employment. Nevertheless, we will move 
forward with her nomination today with a motion to discharge. The 
bottom line is this: The Fed is not a political institution. Ms. Cook's 
position is not a political role. And for Republicans to obstruct her 
nomination purely for political purposes is deeply troubling and hurts 
our efforts to lower costs for American families.


                      America COMPETES Act of 2022

  Mr. President, and now on the competitiveness legislation, last 
night, with a strong bipartisan vote of 68 to 28, the Senate passed an 
amended version of the House jobs and competitiveness legislation. It 
was amended and passed, to be clear, with the same language the Senate 
approved last summer when we approved USICA, the U.S. Innovation and 
Competition Act.
  This bill now heads to the House, and I am optimistic that the House 
will be able to act on a motion requesting a conference committee very 
soon. It remains our goal to initiate a conference committee by the end 
of this work period.
  Once again, I want to thank all of my colleagues for their good-faith 
work on this bill. This is the culmination of years of work on both 
sides of the aisle. Senator Young and I began work on the Endless 
Frontier Act in 2019. There is more work to be done, but we, 
nevertheless, took an important step last night toward our goal of 
enacting this legislation into law.
  And in doing so, I believe that this bill will go down as one of the 
most important steps Congress can take toward creating more jobs, 
fixing our supply chains, and refueling another generation of American 
ingenuity that will strengthen our economy for a long, long time.