[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2878-S2879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  The second reason I rise, Mr. President, is to seek unanimous consent 
regarding the nomination of Mr. Brian Burch to be U.S. Ambassador to 
the Vatican.
  The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for Catholics. I had the 
honor of representing my country, along with four other Senators, at 
the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis. As the first Republican 
Catholic elected to the Senate from my State, it was certainly an 
honor, a somber day.
  Of course, the conclave then happened, and we now have Pope Leo XIV. 
He will be installed formally this weekend, which is why I am rising to 
have this Ambassador approved by the Senate before this weekend so that 
he can maybe attend as the Ambassador.
  Of course, Pope Leo is the first American elected Pope, which is 
significant and historic. He is from Chicago.
  I will note that at my 5 o'clock mass this weekend, during homily, it 
was made clear that although he is from Chicago, he is not a Cubs fan. 
So as a Cardinals fan, that was reassuring to know.
  But it is a historic time for Catholics, and I think it is important 
to have this relationship with the Holy See and with the Vatican. It is 
critical for our country. I think it is important to move forward with 
this nomination.
  Brian is a devoted husband and father to his wife Sara and their nine 
children. Brian and his wife are raising their family in the greater 
Chicago area. Ironically, our new Pope was raised there. He is also the 
cofounder of CatholicVote, a national, faith-based, advocacy 
organization whose mission has inspired every Catholic in America to 
live out the truths of the Catholic faith in public life. He has been 
very involved.
  He is a deserving candidate. He has been passed out of the Foreign 
Relations Committee and would do a great job.
  I think it is a very important statement for this Chamber to make to 
have this Ambassador approved by the Senate before this weekend.
  With that, Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following 
nomination: Executive Calendar No. 100, Brian Burch to be Ambassador to 
the Holy See; 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 the President be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Hawaii.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would 
like to explain what I am doing here.
  I have a hold on nominees coming out of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee because it has been almost 4 months since Donald Trump and 
Marco Rubio illegally and unilaterally shuttered the U.S. Agency for 
International Development under the guise of a so-called review, which 
should be done by now. This is in violation of the appropriations law, 
the Foreign Assistance Act, and probably the Impoundment Control Act.
  Here is the thing: As a direct result--and it is not so common that 
you can say ``as a direct result''--of something that was done by the 
Secretary of State and the Administrator of USAID, people are dying. 
Children are dying. Mothers are passing HIV-AIDS to their children. 
Disaster survivors are being stranded with nowhere to turn. All of this 
suffering is because of what the United States is doing, in 
contravention of their own laws.
  So I will not expedite confirmation of State Department nominees 
until and unless this administration starts complying with the law and 
being accountable to Congress.
  I want to make two other points here. I will stipulate that it would 
be a very nice time to send our Ambassador to the Holy See. It would be 
an auspicious time to do so. But let's understand how hard it would be 
to do this in the normal course of business.

  You file cloture. It is a cloture petition. The majority leader is in 
charge of it. You put it at the desk. You wait a day. You take a 
procedural vote. Two hours later, you take the final passage vote. You 
have your Ambassador. Why do I know this? Because we are doing this on 
nine other nominees this week.
  So it was the choice of the Senate majority to prioritize the Chief 
of Protocol; the Legal Adviser for the Department of State; the 
Secretary of the Air Force; the Deputy Secretary of Energy; the Deputy 
Secretary of the Interior; the Deputy Secretary of State for Management 
and Resources; the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and 
Engineering; the Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management 
and Budget; and the Assistant Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency.
  If this is a very important and time-sensitive confirmation, all we 
need to do is have the majority leader file a cloture petition, we wait 
1 day, and then we vote. It is perfectly available to us, if that is an 
urgent matter, to just do this in the normal course of business.
  As I was talking to the Senator from Missouri, with whom I have a 
pretty solid working relationship, I was explaining that when I was in 
the majority and we were trying to get confirmations through, I spent a 
fair amount of time talking to people who had holds. I would always go 
to their offices, sometimes catch them on the floor, sometimes go to 
the cloakroom, and say: Hey, what would it take to release this hold?
  To this moment, not a single Member has walked up to me and said: 
What would it take to release the hold? Not the majority leader, not 
the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, not the Senator from 
Missouri, not anybody.
  The normal way that the minority flexes its authority is to slow 
things down, even if it is slightly. And this is all this is--like a 
day, plus 2 hours. So if this is important, we can get it done this 
week. If it is important for me to release those holds, then somebody 
should come and talk to me. I remain ready and willing to talk to 
Leader Thune or any Republican colleague as we continue consideration 
of these nominees going forward.
  Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, I would like to address that.
  If this were a blanket hold, if these weren't indiscriminate, maybe 
that would be productive, but these are indiscriminate holds.
  I would offer to this body that not only is the Senate broken through 
this process and this ruse, the Democrats are broken.
  By the way, you don't need to filibuster everything. You don't need 
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[[Page S2879]]

votes for everything. For goodness' sake, Clarence Thomas--Clarence 
Thomas--was confirmed to be a U.S. Supreme Court Justice with 52 votes. 
That was a different era.
  But I will also point to another era. We have not seen an effort like 
this by the minority party to be obstructionists in 50 years. Not since 
the Ford administration has it taken this kind of effort for every 
single nominee. That is brokenness, underlain by the brokenness of 
their party.
  I will use a bit of a baseball analogy here. They are swinging at 
every pitch, every single pitch, and they look ridiculous.
  This week, it is this. Next week, somebody will be down in El 
Salvador at an MS-13 prison--a prison down there--dining with an MS-13 
gang member who beats his wife. This is who they are.
  They are also the people now standing up objecting to the 
confirmation of the Ambassador to the Vatican. Yes, you heard that 
right--the Ambassador of the Vatican, who could be there for the 
installation of the Pope.
  So I don't want to hear anything about how anybody is being 
reasonable. This is totally unreasonable. By the way, my friend from 
Hawaii is defending USAID. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about some 
of the reforms real quickly, a bit of a breakdown.
  Heaven forbid we stop $20 million on a ``Sesame Street'' show in 
Baghdad promoting LGBTQ ideals; $11 million to instruct Vietnam to stop 
trash burning; $56 million to boost Egyptian and Tunisian tourism; $100 
million to build schools in Jordan; $11 million to instruct Vietnam to 
stop burning trash--I already mentioned that--DEI programs in Burma, 
and money for Guatemalan sex changes.
  Maybe, just maybe, this isn't the hill to die on. But maybe, just 
maybe, defending people who are deported, who are MS-13 gang members 
who are terrorizing our communities, that is not the hill to die on. 
But next week, it will be something else.
  But the truth is, this is really about Trump derangement syndrome. 
The truth is, this is about the Democrats not coming to grips about, 
you know, getting smoked in November because they don't have a message. 
So what are they grasping at? All of these ridiculous things so 
somebody can say they are the chief resister.
  I just never thought I would see a day that the resistance would mean 
holding up the Ambassador to the Holy See to be there for the 
installation of the Pope, but here is where we are; total brokenness 
from the other side.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I am just a little bit taken aback by the 
personal--the tone here. But I do enjoy working with the Senator on the 
Commerce Committee, so I am not going to respond in kind, except to say 
something very simple, which is: It is Tuesday. If we file a cloture 
petition--which is not my authority--tonight, there will be one 
intervening day, and then we vote on Thursday.
  So if this is important to the majority leader, all he has to do is 
file a cloture petition.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, I would just like to respond by saying it 
is not personal. The Senator from Hawaii, who is my friend, is--by 
defending USAID--is defending these positions. That is the only remark 
I made.
  But also acting like--and we did have a conversation on the floor 
about what it would take--acting like there would be some kind of 
accommodation that would allow this to move forward in what would 
normally be a normal process here, but where we are at is the Democrats 
are objecting to everything. That has not happened in 50 years. That is 
not normal.
  So the accommodation for this instance, I think, is reasonable. 
Evidently, he doesn't. It is not personal, and here we are. But the 
idea that the Democratic Party is grasping at straws every single day 
to make headlines and make themselves look ridiculous isn't personal 
necessarily, but it is the truth.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.