[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 184 (Wednesday, November 30, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6888-S6889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise to offer a unanimous consent request 
for the approval of two important nominees to ambassadorial positions 
that have passed through the Foreign Relations Committee, and the first 
that I want to offer deals with seeking to advance the nomination of 
William H. Duncan for the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador.
  I appreciate that my colleagues--two colleagues from the Republican 
side--are here on the floor to respond to these requests.
  Mr. Duncan is a 30-year veteran of the career Foreign Service. He has 
experience serving throughout the Western Hemisphere region: El 
Salvador; Monterrey, Mexico; Mexico City; Asuncion; Madrid; Bogota; and 
Matamoros. He has also served domestically in the Offices of Andean 
Affairs, Mexican Affairs, and Central American Affairs. He has had a 
tour in Baghdad and in the State Department Operations Center.
  I say this not to bore everybody with a long recitation, but because 
Mr. Duncan has had a pretty incredible career. And it is near 
impossible to imagine a career more fit to purpose and a nominee better 
suited to serve an enormous and unique challenge that the United States 
faces today in El Salvador.
  The United States faces a very tough question in El Salvador right 
now, and that is the current President of El Salvador, President 
Bukele. He is locally very, very popular, but he has utilized his 
popularity for malfeasance. He has exploited weak local institutions to 
begin to undermine civilian society and build up a security state. He 
has imprisoned around 50,000 of his own citizens since just March of 
this year and curtailed the civil right of the remainder.
  Members of Bukele's party have openly meddled directly in U.S. 
legislative elections.
  Experts increasingly doubt the country's ability to pay nearly $800 
million in Eurobond payments that it owes coming up in February. A 
default could spur a fresh round of migration northward from El 
Salvador to Mexico and the United States.
  My friends across the aisle frequently--and, I think, appropriately--
cite migration as a top foreign policy challenge, and they have got a 
point. The size and scope of this crisis, compounded by El Salvador and 
President Bukele's actions, and the humanitarian impact on the entire 
region and our country are worsening by the day. I agree that the issue 
needs much, much more attention, and El Salvador is right on the 
frontline of this crisis.
  I lived in Honduras, very near the Salvadoran border in 1980 and 
1981. It was a challenge then. It is a challenge now. No country can, 
on its own, confront the myriad of challenges facing El Salvador today, 
transnational organized crime being one of them.
  So we have to work together to strengthen the rule of law in El 
Salvador. That is essential if we are going to discourage irregular 
migration. Without the rule of law, El Salvador will never have the 
economic growth that it needs nor will it be able to prevent human 
rights abuses and attacks on civil liberties, reduce gender-based 
violence, or defeat the threat from criminal gangs, all drivers of 
irregular migration.
  Addressing these drivers and other serious U.S. policy concerns 
requires engagement at the highest level by experienced, incredible 
interlocutors, such as Mr. Duncan. We urgently need a Senate-confirmed 
Ambassador to engage President Bukele in El Salvador and civil society, 
including the courageous human rights activists, on these issues.
  As Mr. Duncan noted in his testimony in front of the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee, the relationship between the United States and El 
Salvador has been exceptionally close for more than 40 years, despite 
many, many challenging issues. Through a horrific civil war, a fraught 
peace process, and into today's challenges, such as fighting 
transnational organized crime, the United States has worked 
cooperatively with El Salvador in everything we can and disagreed 
firmly and constructively when we needed to.
  It is worth noting that over these years, many Salvadorans have 
become our fellow citizens, including right here in the DMV, through 
processes such as TPS status. Two and a half million Salvadorans live 
in the United States. They proudly contribute to our national fabric 
through their creativity and work ethic and to El Salvador

[[Page S6889]]

through billions of dollars in remittances every year.
  Now, I have been speaking a bit. One word you haven't heard me 
mention at all is Cuba. I have a feeling, based on an earlier iteration 
of this, that my colleague will cite concerns about the 
administration's challenges with Cuba as a reason for this hold, and I 
just ask the question: What does this have to do with El Salvador?

  There are always differences of opinions within the Senate on every 
administration's policies on Latin America and especially Cuba--I get 
that--even, at times, strong opposition. And I have raised opposition 
about issues with respect to Cuba with this administration and others.
  We all are free to offer bills and amendments dealing with the many 
challenges in Cuba, but Mr. Duncan was nominated for this role in an 
entirely different country, El Salvador, in February 2022. His Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee hearing was in August. He has been pending 
consideration by the full Senate since then, as the human rights 
situation in El Salvador has been worsening. Let's get our Ambassador 
out onto the field and put him to work.
  And so with that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 1106, William H. 
Duncan, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of 
Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador of the United States of America to 
the Republic of El Salvador; that the Senate vote on the nomination 
without intervening action or debate; that, if confirmed, the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President 
be immediately informed of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Reserving the right to object, first, I want to 
thank my colleague from Virginia for coming down to the floor and 
bringing up the issue of U.S. foreign policy toward the Western 
Hemisphere. I agree with my colleague that U.S. foreign policy toward 
Latin America is of the utmost importance and that the Ambassadors we 
send into Latin America must advocate for the right policies.
  Sadly, as both Vice President and President, Joe Biden has had a 
policy of appeasement toward Latin America dictators. President Biden 
has given operational control of the U.S. southern border to criminal 
cartels that work with narcostates like Venezuela and has shown that 
there are no consequences for crossing the U.S. border illegally.
  He removed FARC from the list of foreign terrorist organizations, 
which I cannot understand why he would do that. He didn't invite Juan 
Guaido to the Summit of the Americas, even though the United States 
recognizes him as a legitimate interim President of Venezuela.
  He eased sanctions on the illegitimate regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, 
while getting nothing in return to stop the oppression of the innocent 
people in these countries.
  Biden's policy of appeasement toward Latin America dictators has done 
nothing to help the Cuban and Venezuelan people. I believe his actions 
have made our hemisphere more dangerous and more dangerous for the 
people who live in these countries. While President Biden doesn't stand 
up to Castro, Diaz-Canel, and Maduro, we are left with a destabilized 
hemisphere that is less peaceful and puts our national security at 
greater risk and hurts the citizens of these countries. These are 
murderers, illegitimate dictators. Appeasement is the worst move 
imaginable.
  Iran, Russia, and communist China love it when Biden is nice to their 
friends in Latin America.
  And as any active observer of Latin America knows, the countries in 
the region are incredibly interconnected. Policy toward Cuba affects 
policy toward everywhere else in the region. And as we see leftwing, 
socialist candidates rise in the region, like Gustavo Petro in 
Colombia, it only gives further reasoning for why the United States 
must strongly project our values of stability, democracy, and anti-
communism.
  Joe Biden has the power to join the Cuban people to call for the 
Cuban Communist Party to change. Where is he? Aside from a couple of 
statements he made last year, President Biden has not taken one action 
to support the Cuban people in their fight for freedom. He has done 
nothing to provide them with internet connections. He talked about it 
but didn't do it. He has done nothing to support the democracy movement 
on the island. He talks about it but hasn't done it. Instead, he and 
his administration have bowed to the demands of Cuba's murderous regime 
and have chosen not to stand for democracy and human rights.
  The President couldn't even be bothered to speak about the 1-year 
anniversary of the July 11 historic and peaceful demonstrations in 
Cuba.
  It is time for President Biden to stand up. He must call for the 
immediate release of the hundreds--hundreds--of pro-democracy 
activists, including children as young as 14 years old, that the regime 
has unjustly detained and subjected to physical and psychological 
torture.
  President Biden's policies toward Latin America have diminished our 
influence in the region, and the people have seen their calls for 
freedom abandoned. It is essential to the national security of the 
United States, as well as our efforts to support freedom, democracy, 
and human rights, that President Biden reverses these foolish actions 
and not allow totalitarian dictatorships in our hemisphere to go 
unchecked.

  We can never bow to dictators--never. It is time for Biden to lead 
and oppose these genocidal dictators and support human rights. Until he 
does, I am not going to allow these nominations to go forward.
  And I don't disagree with anything that my colleague from Virginia 
said, as far as that there are different ways that you can do foreign 
policy in Latin America. But not to be willing to just make a statement 
that these poor people in Cuba ought to be released is just 
unbelievable to me.
  So, therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, let me respond, and I will soften my 
request toward my colleague after I briefly respond.
  My response is this: I don't see the logic. Cuba is not El Salvador. 
I listened to my colleague's comments, and I heard him talk about Cuba, 
and I talked to him about Venezuela. I didn't hear him say one word 
about El Salvador or one word about William H. Duncan.
  These are not the same countries. It is not like they all look alike. 
They are different countries.
  Now, we don't want them to be alike. That is true. We don't want them 
to be alike, and the danger we have--and I will have a request for the 
Senator from Florida in a second. The danger we have is, if we send El 
Salvador a sign of disrespect by not sending them an Ambassador, the 
dangerous tendency of the current President Bukele becoming more and 
more authoritarian could move El Salvador into a position where they 
are more and more like Cuba, and I don't think any of us want that to 
happen.
  And so I would render a softer version of my request to my colleague 
from Florida and, instead of asking unanimous consent, that we just 
have a UC vote on this.
  I would soften it and ask unanimous consent that, at a time to be 
determined by the majority leader, the Senate consider this nomination: 
Calendar No. 1106, William H. Duncan, a Career Member of the Senior 
Foreign Service; and that the Senate vote on the nomination, offering 
to all the opportunity to vote no, if that is their choice, without 
intervening action or debate; and that if confirmed, the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with the 
President notified immediately of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. As soon as President Biden puts out a statement 
that all the peaceful protesters in Cuba should be immediately 
released, I will not object.
  But until he does, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.