[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 132 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S4973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Casey Mulligan

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Small 
Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, I rise today to oppose the 
nomination of Casey Mulligan to be Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the 
Small Business Administration.
  On April 2, the committee reported out the Mulligan nomination by a 
vote of 10 to 9. Not one Democrat voted in support.
  Dr. Mulligan represents yet another radical departure from the norms 
we should expect from government, courtesy of the Trump administration.
  The Office of Advocacy was created to serve as an independent voice 
for small businesses. It is charged by statute with examining how 
Executive actions affect small businesses. However, Dr. Mulligan, an 
economist at the University of Chicago, subscribes to an 
ultraconservative school of thought that opposes regulation in almost 
any form.
  Dr. Mulligan actually rejects regulations that protect the 
environment, safeguard fair treatment of workers, and keeps products 
from injuring consumers. He has a decades-long track record of 
questioning basic protections that most Americans take for granted. He 
has cast doubt on the need for a mandatory minimum wage. He called into 
question paid sick leave and unemployment insurance. He vigorously 
opposes ObamaCare and even went so far as to make the absurd argument 
that ObamaCare was responsible for making the great recession even 
worse.
  This is the leadership that President Trump envisions for the 
independent Office of Advocacy. But this office is just too important 
to entrust to someone like Dr. Mulligan.
  As I stand here, countless small businesses across the Nation are 
facing the threat of closure because of President Trump's destructive 
trade war. Yet since coming under the control of this administration, 
the Office of Advocacy's Trump-appointed interim leadership has not yet 
held a single roundtable about tariffs or even, as far as anyone can 
tell, published a single word about how tariffs might be harming small 
businesses across our Nation.
  We have 13 million small businesses in America. Do you think that 
would be something that the Small Business Administration would be 
thinking about?
  How is it that an office whose sole purpose is to call attention to 
how small businesses are affected by administration policy has failed 
to mention tariffs even once? Are they talking to small businesses or 
are they looking over their shoulders and saying, ``No, we are just 
going to remain silent about the obvious,'' worried that anything that 
runs counter to the Trump administration's policy will lead to their 
dismissal.
  That is my concern, and that should be America's concern. If the 
interim leadership at the Office of Advocacy is too scared to raise the 
obvious point that small businesses are being crushed by the Trump 
tariffs, we can only imagine what the President's handpicked nominee 
will do if he is confirmed.
  The Office of Advocacy needs strong, independent leadership that can 
stand up to the administration when small businesses are under threat.
  I urge my colleagues to vote no on this nomination so that our 
Nation's 34 million small business owners have a real advocate looking 
out for them and not just another Trump yes-man.
  At this point, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.