[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 71 (Tuesday, April 29, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S2630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



           Nominations of Thomas Barrack and Tilman Fertitta

  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, on a more credible note, I hope, I am here 
to speak on two noms that we have coming up. There is going to be a 
vote on confirmation of Thomas Barrack to be Ambassador for Turkiye and 
a vote on Tilman Fertitta for the nomination to be Ambassador for 
Italy.
  I want to speak first to the nomination of Thomas Barrack for 
Ambassador to Turkiye. As you know--as everyone knows--Turkiye is a 
critical U.S. and NATO ally. I use that word ally judiciously. They 
have been the recalcitrant ally, from time to time, lately and have 
been difficult. Nonetheless, we have gotten through those things, but 
it has been far from lockstep with America in supporting our mutual 
interests.
  While Turkiye hosts NATO and American forces and has supported 
efforts toward peace in Ukraine, it has troubling--troubling--ties to 
Russia and Hamas. Turkiye also has a difficult track record on human 
rights and has repressed dissent both in and outside of its borders.
  Mr. Barrack is the right man to tackle this challenging post. He will 
help President Trump and Secretary Rubio protect national security 
interests from the many threats we face. I hope my colleagues will join 
me in supporting the confirmation of Thomas Barrack.
  Next, I want to move to the nomination of Tillman Fertitta for 
Ambassador to Italy.
  Italy remains a close ally, an important partner in Europe, and is a 
special place for a lot of Americans. While there are deep cultural 
ties, there remain a number of areas where significant improvement is 
needed.
  On trade, U.S. producers have a hard time getting access to the 
Italian market, in part because of EU regulations--certainly, not the 
fault of Italy. But, nonetheless, the difficulty is there. There are 
also domestic industries that find creative barriers to keep U.S. 
products out.
  In the security space, Italy remains below NATO's 2 percent spending 
requirement. This is really hard to understand, based on both the 
challenges Putin has created for European security but also due to the 
substantial security threats Italy faces from the Mediterranean and 
from North Africa.
  I am confident that Mr. Fertitta will help address these issues and 
ensure the U.S.-Italian relationship only continues to grow stronger.
  I encourage my colleagues to support his nomination. I know this 
nomination vote is going to be a bipartisan vote, and there are 
certainly Democrats that feel very strongly about Mr. Fertitta for good 
reason. He is a good man. He deserves the vote. I hope everyone will 
join us in voting for this confirmation.
  I yield the floor.