[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 42 (Monday, March 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S650-S652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Nominations

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, in the months leading up to the 2020 
election, Joe Biden distanced himself from the far-left wing of the 
Democratic Party and pitched himself as a moderate, and for the most 
part, the media happily played along right until day 1 of the Biden 
administration--when Joe Biden handed the reins to the most radical 
slate of nominees this country has ever seen.
  The Democrats claim that this administration is transformative, but 
that is not what Tennesseans believe. All they see is a President who 
is not in control of his government and a host of unelected bureaucrats 
on a mission to rip apart this country and to rebuild it in their 
image. That is the kind of

[[Page S651]]

transformation they are carrying out in this country.
  This complete disregard for the American people was on display last 
week during Attorney General Merrick Garland's testimony before the 
Senate Judiciary Committee. It became clear to me from listening to his 
testimony and reviewing his tenure as our Attorney General that he has 
truly created a two-tiered system of justice in this country--two 
systems of justice, two different types of investigations.
  Now, under these two separate tiers of investigations and response 
and justice, there is one standard that applies to people of faith, to 
parents, to conservatives--really, the heartland of America--and then 
there is a separate standard for the liberal political elite--people 
who are after power, people who want to control your life.
  Since the Dobbs opinion leak, violence and threats of violence have 
increased among far-left groups but not among pro-life and conservative 
groups. Still, the Garland DOJ has targeted pro-life advocates for 
investigation, prosecution, and even full-scale FBI raids. Let me give 
you some examples of this. Over 70 pro-life pregnancy centers have been 
targeted by leftwing activists; yet only 2 individuals have been 
indicted. Compare that with 25 pro-life advocates indicted under the 
FACE Act just in the last 5 months.
  The Attorney General has been keeping very close tabs on the pro-life 
community. As I said, there are 25 who are being prosecuted while only 
2 are being prosecuted after having carried out 70 acts of vandalism 
against pro-life pregnancy centers and churches. But he is watching 
this pro-life community very closely, so I admit I was a little taken 
aback when he claimed in his testimony that he was completely unaware 
of a widely reported attack on a crisis pregnancy center in Nashville.
  The far-left abortion advocacy group Jane's Revenge appears to have 
claimed responsibility for the fire-bombing attempt on the Hope Clinic 
for Women, but the Attorney General is still unwilling to classify this 
group as a domestic terrorist organization. You heard me right. They 
fire-bombed a pro-life pregnancy center--a center there to help women 
with healthcare, to provide diapers for newborns, formula for babies. 
This group, Jane's Revenge--they were so proud of their work that they 
spray-painted their name on the walls and took credit for it.
  Now, Mr. Garland likes to throw around the label ``domestic 
terrorist'' when it comes to parents who are concerned about what their 
children are being taught in school, but he will not use it to condemn 
far-left radicals who attempt to burn down a crisis pregnancy center. 
The American public should find this appalling and completely 
unacceptable. Tennesseans find this unacceptable.
  It is also unacceptable that he won't enforce the Federal law that 
explicitly prohibits protesters from intimidating our Supreme Court 
Justices. That is right--there is a Federal statute against this, but 
he is not prosecuting these individuals. Five Justices and their 
families have endured unimaginable harassment from the constant 
protesting outside of their private homes. One Justice has even fallen 
victim to an assassination attempt, but no one--not one, zero, no one--
has been indicted or prosecuted. This is a Federal crime. It is a law 
on the books.
  This is two tiers of justice at work. The American people can see 
this, and when I am at home in Tennessee, I hear a lot about this. It 
doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum someone sits on. I 
hear complaints about this two tiers of justice from Republicans, 
Democrats, Independents. The reason you do is that people know, 
sometimes when you establish such a precedent, that it leads to areas 
you don't want to go and seeing that continue. We are a nation of laws 
that believes in the rule of law.
  Here are more examples of this two tiers of justice. Pro-life 
advocates are being targeted for prosecution and arrest while far-left, 
pro-abortion radicals are free to commit violence in our communities. 
Concerned parents are labeled domestic terrorists. Our Supreme Court 
Justices, who are subject to relentless protests outside of their 
homes, are not being protected, and there is not a bit of concern from 
the country's chief law enforcement officer. I ask you, does that sound 
like normal conduct to you? Of course not.
  It was, as Chairman Durbin said after another recent meeting of the 
Judiciary Committee, a rough hearing.
  Conditions weren't much better over in the Commerce Committee last 
week, where my Republican colleagues and I truly struggled to see why 
President Biden had nominated someone with only a year and a half of 
aviation experience to lead the FAA. That is right--a year and a half 
of aviation experience to lead our Federal Aviation Administration. 
Phil Washington's only relevant experience amounts to a year-and-a-half 
stint at the Denver Airport. He is totally unqualified to lead an 
Agency that is desperate for true leadership.
  The FAA's main mission is to protect and ensure the safety of the 
flying public, but instead of prioritizing safety, what has Mr. 
Washington chosen to prioritize in Denver? Well, Mr. Washington's goal 
is to enshrine diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at the Federal 
level.
  During his hearing, I asked him why he included DEI policies in 
Denver Airport's procurement process. That is right--procurement. The 
FAA's current process, which is already terribly long and convoluted, 
would nearly collapse under the effects of a DEI mandate, but Mr. 
Washington made it clear he believes that, while the FAA should, 
indeed, focus on problems like the NOTAM incident and making sure 
planes don't crash into each other, he would redirect needed attention 
toward a controversial and unpopular, woke crusade that would do 
nothing to improve the safety of the flying public.
  The administration needs to go back to the drawing board and send the 
Senate a nominee with true aviation safety experience.
  Unfortunately, a lack of experience was the least of our concerns in 
the case of another Biden nominee who moved through the Senate last 
week. On Thursday, the Finance Committee voted to advance the 
nomination of Danny Werfel to be Commissioner of the IRS.
  The IRS has a long history of doing whatever it decides it wants to 
do, from the Lois Lerner scandal, which Mr. Werfel is very familiar 
with, to last year when the IRS decided to destroy 30 million taxpayer 
documents--something we only know about because the Treasury's 
inspector general alerted us. The IRS did not alert Congress.
  The IRS has been out of control for too long, and the fact that we 
have seen this Agency move forward on a so-called transformative agenda 
without a confirmed Commissioner in charge is proof that in this 
administration--you have people in that White House who are not sending 
forward nominees who have the relevant experience and who are qualified 
to do the job to which they are being appointed.
  While I commend Mr. Werfel for being willing to serve our country, 
his responses during the confirmation hearing and the information he 
submitted in writing did little to inspire confidence in his 
willingness to take back control of this Agency.
  Tennesseans have serious concerns about how the IRS plans to use that 
$80 billion blank check that the Democrats gave them this year. They 
know that under the current regime, this will lead to more audits and 
more harassment not of big corporations but of--guess what--small 
businesses, gig economy workers, and Main Street merchants. Meanwhile, 
taxpayers are sitting ducks for hackers and other bad actors who have 
found it far too easy to access and steal data from the IRS's own 
systems.
  The American people are entitled to know how any nominee, asking to 
lead this Agency, will approach the job. The last thing they want to be 
told is, well, just wait and see.
  And there you have it--1 week of damage and disregard for the 
American people, courtesy of President Joe Biden and the Senate 
Democrats.
  There is only one way that the Biden administration will be able to 
earn back the confidence of the American people, and that is to start 
respecting the norms and institutions that our great Nation is built 
upon. This will require everyone from the President on down to 
discipline themselves and show the same common sense that Tennesseans 
show every day as they stretch their budgets to try to deal with high 
inflation, the prices at the

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grocery store, and the price at the pump as they try to work through 
dealing with crime in their communities courtesy of the gangs coming in 
over the southern border and with drugs running into our communities--
again, coming over that open southern border.
  I am not optimistic that President Biden and the Democrats are going 
to buckle down and be serious about securing our border and about 
bringing forward nominees who are competent and ready to serve in this 
administration or judges who have the relevant experience to serve on a 
Federal bench, but I welcome the Democrats to buckle down, get serious, 
and take governing seriously. Let's make certain that they bring 
forward people who are going to do the job with respect for the 
American people.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hirono). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.