[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 27519-27520]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the Senate immediately proceed to 
executive session to consider the following nominations on the 
Executive Calendar:
  No. 98, Cheryl Shavers, to be Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Technology; No. 99, Kelly Carnes, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce 
for Technology Policy; No. 133, Lawrence Harrington, to serve on the 
Inter-American Development Bank; Nos. 244, 245, and 246, three 
Mississippi River Commissioners; No. 253, Thomas Leary, to be a Federal 
Trade Commissioner; No. 254, Stephen Van Beek, to be Associate Deputy 
Secretary of Transportation; No. 255, Michael Frazier, for the position 
of Assistant Secretary of Transportation; No. 256, Gregory Rohde, to be 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications; No. 270, Florence-
Marie Cooper, to be a U.S. district judge in the Central District of 
California; No. 274, Barbara Lynn, to be a U.S. district judge for the 
Northern District of Texas; No. 277, Gerald Poje, to serve on the 
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; No. 278, Skila Harris, 
to be on the TVA Board of Directors; No. 279, Glenn McCullough, to be 
on the TVA Board of Directors; No. 238, Dorian Vanessa Weaver, for the 
Export-Import Bank; and No. 239, Dan Renberg, to be on the Export-
Import Bank; and then Nos. 281 through 290, ten sentencing 
commissioners; and No. 293, Paul Seave, to be U.S. Attorney for the 
Eastern District of California.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. GRAHAM. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. GRAHAM. I have a question of the leader. Will the majority leader 
agree to delete No. 279 from the list of nominations?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I inquire of the Senator, is that Glenn 
McCullough of Mississippi, my home State, to be a member of the 
Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors?
  Mr. GRAHAM. Yes.
  Mr. LOTT. No, I will not agree to that. I should point out there are 
some 27 nominations--25 nominations plus 2 more on which I was going to 
ask for agreement on a time limit and a vote, the nomination of Linda 
Morgan to be a member of the Surface Transportation Board--her 
nomination has been held up quite sometime, but I have agreement now to 
proceed to a recorded vote on that one, and also No. 271, the 
nomination of Ronald Gould of Washington to be a U.S. judge for the 
Ninth Circuit. We need to request 1 hour of debate and a recorded vote. 
There are a total of 27 nominations here, including 2 that will have to 
have a recorded vote. It is a package. They all go or none go.
  Mr. GRAHAM. In light of that, Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I can be heard briefly on that. I want to 
emphasize this is a very large package of 27 nominations. Most of them 
are people who are supported by Democrats, I guess 23, 24, 25 of those. 
There are two or three that are Republican positions. One of them is 
for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which I presume is being objected 
to for an unrelated reason because, clearly, there is no problem with 
this nominee.
  I will be back early next week with additional nominations that will 
run this package up to, I presume, between 34 and 40 nominations. All I 
can do is get them cleared and then offer them to the Democrats. If 
they object, then that is their problem.
  I should also note that included in this group was not one, not two, 
but three judges, two of them women. One of the women is from 
California and one of them is from Texas. So for one 6-year 
appointment--I believe it is a 6-year term--to the Tennessee Valley 
Authority where there is a need for these two directors, they are 
willing to hold up 27 nominations, including two women nominated to 
U.S. district courts.
  That is not real smart. I do not quite understand it, and I hope the 
leadership and the President will speak to those who object in this way 
because I have heard all kinds of rhetoric today about how it is 
difficult if you are a woman or minority to get your nomination 
approved. In fact, I believe the record will show over the last 3 years 
this Congress and the previous Congress has confirmed a higher 
percentage of women and minorities than any Congress in history.
  I do note it is pretty hard to go back and look at all the 
nominations and determine exactly how many minorities were approved 
because there is no record. We do not check whether you are a 
minority--African American or Hispanic or Asian. You are a person. All 
we can tell by your name is if you

[[Page 27520]]

are a man or woman. Based on just the gender statistic, in fact, since 
I have been majority leader, I believe the record will show we have 
approved a lot more women than George Mitchell did when he was majority 
leader.
  These accusations that were made today ring hollow. I hate to see the 
Senate stoop to that level. I met with White House officials today and 
told them we were going to try to clear these 27 nominations, and we 
will keep trying to move them all. I do not think it is reasonable to 
try to hold up one 6-year-term nominee to try to get two lifetime 
nominees to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a circuit that already 
has too many activist judges in it, a circuit that is the most liberal 
in this country, a circuit that is overruled more than any other 
circuit in the country by the Supreme Court, a circuit basically that 
is out of control. The nominees for these two positions have given rise 
to a great deal of controversy, to serious questions about whether they 
would be activists on the court, and to grave concerns about their 
records.
  I understand the objection, and hopefully we can clear it up early 
tomorrow or next week. I yield the floor.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

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