[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1818-S1819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I rise to talk about one of the Senate's 
foremost constitutional duties, the advice and consent of executive 
nominations.
  The most senior nominees, like Cabinet Secretaries, go through a 
floor process that normally takes about 4 days, if you run through all 
the procedural steps by the book. Other nominees, typically people with 
highly specialized expertise, go through a rigorous committee process 
and are often confirmed by unanimous consent.
  Any Senator can object; that is the right of the Senator. If they 
feel that even one of hundreds of lower-level nominees should take up 
nearly a full week of the U.S. Senate's time, they can insist upon 
that.
  I think Presidents are due an appropriate level of discretion in 
picking their teams, and I believe this is true whether or not the 
President is one I support or oppose. I believe in having the executive 
branch staffed with qualified professionals. I do draw the line at 
three areas: if a nominee is totally unqualified for the job, if there 
is a well-justified reason to question a nominee's ethics or honesty or 
impartiality, and, finally, if a nominee is so outside the mainstream 
in ways that go beyond normal good-faith disagreement on matters of 
policy.
  I opposed a number of President Trump's nominees who met one or 
multiple of these criteria, but I also supported a larger percentage of 
President Trump's nominees. Even though these were not people I 
expected to agree with on policy, they did not fall afoul of the three 
criteria that I look at in a primary way.
  I am here today because of several nominees within the jurisdiction 
of multiple committees I sit on; they are being blockaded, and I would 
like to focus on one just now.
  Amy Loyd is nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of Education for 
Career, Technical, and Adult Education.

[[Page S1819]]

Ms. Loyd designed and led programs across the United States in her 
prior role at the education think tank Jobs for the Future and the 
Native American educational advocacy group the Cook Inlet Tribal 
Council.
  She had a distinguished academic career, attending community college 
first in Santa Fe, prior to a doctorate in education leadership from 
Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a lifelong professional in 
the field of career and technical education, and she brings personal 
life experience in the field, having begun her career at community 
college. I believe she is an outstanding point person for President 
Biden when it comes to matters of career and technical education.
  The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions advanced her 
nomination by a voice vote, with no recorded opposition. I sit on the 
HELP Committee. I am the chairman of the bipartisan Senate Career and 
Technical Education Caucus. I was proud to support her.
  Although I do not know Ms. Loyd personally, I do have a personal 
connection to her nomination. My dad ran a welding and ironworking 
shop. I grew up working in that shop with my two brothers and my 
mother. I saw the power of career and technical education and the 
artistry of the ironworkers who worked in my dad's business.
  When I was in the middle of law school, I took a year off to go be a 
missionary in Honduras, and I ran a school that taught kids to be 
carpenters and welders, again seeing the power of career and technical 
education. And I think that there is a bipartisan understanding in this 
body and the House--really, in society at large--that we may have 
undervalued career and technical education in recent generations; and 
as we are contemplating things like an infrastructure bill or other 
important priorities to grow the economy, we need to put more stress, 
not less, on the value of career and technical education.
  So, as a Senator, I am proud to have made this one of my central 
policy fields: working on CTE bills with many, many colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle.
  There is a hold on Amy Loyd's nomination, and that is the right of 
those who would hold her. But I am here specifically because I would 
like to know why.
  I would ask my colleagues under which of the three buckets does Ms. 
Loyd's nomination fall short? Is there a perception that she is not 
qualified? Is there a perception that she is not ethical? Is there a 
perception that her views on career and technical education are outside 
the mainstream?
  You don't have to support President Biden's nominees. If she is 
confirmed, part of her job will be answering tough questions from 
colleagues.
  But I would ask my colleagues, if you are voting against nominees of 
any President from the other party not because of flaws of the kinds 
that I have described, what does that get us?
  The American people put Democrats for a period of time in charge of 
both the executive and the legislative branches. The American public 
often vote for divided government. Does that mean that any time the 
White House and the Senate are controlled by different parties, the 
parties just won't have anybody in their administration? What does that 
get our country? I think we know the answer: dysfunction.

  Clearly, Madam President, as I conclude, there are nominees who 
engender significant controversy, either because of the peculiar nature 
of the post to which they have been nominated or because of aspects of 
their background or character. I know of no such controversy with this 
nominee, either about the position or about the individual herself. And 
I think if we are to succeed in the necessary project of elevating the 
importance of career and technical education, we need to have Ms. Loyd 
confirmed in her position.
  For that reason, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
following nomination; Calendar No. 669, Amy Loyd, to be Assistant 
Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education, Department of 
Education; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening 
action or debate; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and 
laid upon the table; and that any statements related to the nomination 
be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Madam President, reserving the right to object.
  I do think it is significant that the party that is now in the 
majority that was previously in the minority took a different position 
when it was not in the minority--when it was not in the majority and 
when a President of their political party was not in power. There was 
elaborate and, I believe, an excessive delay in the confirmation of a 
lot of nominees, even more so than what we are seeing now.
  I do have concerns that are particular as to this particular nominee 
and not generalized. They are not concerns that could be dismissed 
simply as a result of basic partisan disagreements, but based on views 
that are considerably outside the mainstream and that are radical and 
harmful.
  Let me explain. As vice president of the think tank Jobs for the 
Future, Ms. Loyd was responsible for overseeing that organization's 
workforce development efforts through the lens of diversity, equity, 
and inclusion.
  It is of great concern to me that this body of work produced reports 
that promulgated ideas aimed at furthering the divisive agenda of 
critical race theory and ESG scores. One of the most alarming of these 
reports is one that was published on September 8, 2020, which asserted 
that due to ``unconscious or implicit bias toward minorities,'' 
managers are limiting the advancement or promotion of minorities in the 
workforce.
  These divisive, inflammatory assumptions are dangerous to the civil 
fabric of our society. Elevating individuals who espouse this dangerous 
and divisive ideology to key leadership positions within the Federal 
Government will only further divide Americans, pitting them one against 
another.
  We should instead seek to elevate into positions of leadership those 
who aim to unify the American people and emphasize the importance of 
making sure that people are evaluated on the basis of the character of 
their heart, not the color of their skin. Her work has done the 
opposite of that.
  In good conscience, I cannot and will not support the nomination of 
Ms. Loyd; and on that basis, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.