[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 577-580]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              NOMINATIONS


                     nomination of spencer abraham

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I'm very pleased to have strongly 
supported the nomination of Senator Spencer Abraham as Secretary of the 
Department of Energy.
  As all my colleagues are well aware, Senator Abraham has a 
distinguished record of leadership here in the Senate. He has 
demonstrated his initiative and willingness to pursue complex issues on 
countless occasions during his years of service in this body.
  Senator Abraham and I served together on the Senate Budget Committee, 
and I came to appreciate his insightful approach to the challenging 
tasks we faced in crafting the nation's budget. Through his work on the 
Budget Committee, Senator Abraham deserves a share of the credit for 
the wonderful progress towards balancing the federal budgets.
  From his public service in the State of Michigan, Senator Abraham has 
an in-depth understanding of the issues facing manufacturers and 
consumers, including their dependence on reliable, clean energy 
sources. He appreciates the immense role of the transportation sector 
in influencing significant parts of our energy policy. He has been one 
of the Senate's most knowledgeable members on subjects related to high-
technology policies and the contributions that this important sector 
makes to America's economy and global success.
  While Senator Abraham has expressed concerns about the role of the 
Department of Energy in the past, I'm pleased to note that he carefully 
addressed his current views in his statement to the Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee. In that statement, he emphasized his support for 
the many important missions that comprise the portfolio of the 
Department of Energy.
  Service as the nation's Secretary of the Department of Energy is a 
challenge for any individual. The Department has a diverse set of 
missions, that sometimes seem to lack a coordinating thread. Management 
of this Department is truly a daunting assignment.
  National security and energy policy will present some of his largest 
challenges. In the national security area, he and Undersecretary John 
Gordon, Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration 
are responsible for all aspects of our nuclear stockpile and a wide 
range of non-proliferation programs. These two dimensions represent the 
two different major approaches to improved national security, 
minimizing threats that could jeopardize our peace and prosperity and 
insuring our ability to protect ourselves if necessary.
  Among many important areas, the NNSA must strive to rebuild morale at 
the weapons laboratories, develop a major infrastructure improvement 
initiative across the weapons complex, and address serious 
congressional concerns associated with faulty program management that 
has led in the recent past to large construction overruns such as the 
experience on the National Ignition Facility. In the non-proliferation 
area, transparency and accountability will remain serious issues as 
Congress evaluates the advisability of future funding for these vital 
programs.
  A comprehensive energy policy is urgently needed, although recovery 
from our current energy crisis will be anything but overnight. First we 
need the policy, then we need years of careful support to implement 
that policy--only then can we approach a greater degree of energy 
security than we face today. As I've outlined now on several occasions, 
I urge the President to create a multi-Agency approach to national 
energy policy, so that several key agencies evaluate their decisions in 
light of assuring our nation of energy security.
  And finally, the Secretary is responsible for a large fraction of the 
federal support for science and technology. The nation's scientific and 
engineering talents, and the high technology advances they've 
generated, are responsible for a large fraction of our economic 
strength. In recent years, Congress has started to increase funding in 
key areas of science and technology. The Secretary of the Department of 
Energy must organize his scientific programs to maximize their outputs 
and their contributions to our scientific understanding and economic 
security.
  His past experiences have prepared him very well for these fresh 
challenges. I look forward to working with Senator Spencer Abraham in 
this new role as Secretary of the Department of Energy and encourage 
all of my colleagues to do likewise.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I am pleased to have supported the 
nomination of Spencer Abraham to be Secretary of Energy.
  As Secretary, Senator Abraham will face a number of important and 
difficult challenges. Clearly, we must address our dependence on 
foreign sources of energy and the current spike in fuel prices that is 
driving transportation and heating costs to unacceptably high levels. 
In my state of North Dakota, home heating costs are painfully high for 
many families. And this spring farmers will face high input costs as 
they head into their fields. I do not think developing a comprehensive 
and effective long-term answer will be easy, but the strength of our 
economy will depend, in part, on our success in controlling energy 
price hikes.
  In addition, our most populous state, California, is in the middle of 
an electricity crisis. Again, this has potential

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implications for our economy. Finally, the security problems at our 
national labs will present a difficult challenge for our next Secretary 
of Energy.
  Senator Abraham has been a capable and dedicated colleague for the 
past six years. As he noted in his confirmation hearing, his views have 
evolved since he was first elected to this body. Then, he called for 
the abolition of the Department of Energy. Now he looks forward to 
service as our next Secretary of Energy. As one who believes the Energy 
Department plays a critical role in setting policies that profoundly 
impact our economy and our national security, I welcome this change of 
heart and wish him well as he enters into this next chapter in his 
service to our Nation.


                      Nomination of Dr. Rod Paige

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of Dr. 
Rod Paige, Secretary of Education.
  President George W. Bush has repeatedly emphasized the importance of 
education being a linchpin of America's future. Moreover, he has linked 
increased spending on education with real accountability that actually 
produces results.
  I think Ben Franklin may have put it best when he said, ``An 
investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.'' I believe this 
because even on its best day the Federal government can never be a 
replacement for local administrators, educators, and parents.
  It is with this in mind that I am so pleased the nomination of Dr. 
Rod Paige is before us to be the next Secretary of Education. Dr. Paige 
is not a Washington bureaucrat, rather he is an accomplished educator 
and administrator who has actually served in the education trenches.
  Dr. Paige's recent tenure as the Superintendent of the Houston 
Independent School District provides him with the unique perspective of 
what is actually involved in running a local school district. 
Unfortunately, that is all too often not the case because Washington 
bureaucrats make the decisions affecting our students instead of local 
administrators.
  However, I would submit the practice of implementing a Washington 
based one size fits all approach is about to come to an end.
  As a former Superintendent, Dr. Paige, actually understands that 
every school district does not face the same set of problems and 
Washington does not know what is best. Rather it is the local parents, 
teachers, and administrators who know what the problems are as well as 
the solutions.
  I think it also interesting to note the breadth of Dr. Paige's 
experience in the field of education. Not only was he a school 
superintendent, but prior to assuming that role he served as a member 
and then later the president of the Houston School Board.
  Lest we forget the importance of higher education, Dr. Paige has also 
spent time as an administrator and teacher at Utica Junior College, 
Jackson State, and Texas Southern University. In fact, Dr. Paige served 
as the dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern prior to 
serving on the Houston School Board.
  I would also like to touch upon one final aspect of Dr. Paige's 
career and that is his time as a football coach. While the head 
football coach at Utica Junior College and Jackson State he was still a 
teacher of students, but instead of desks and a chalkboard he used the 
gridiron as his classroom.
  In closing, I think we all begin the 107th Congress with unlimited 
opportunities to improve our nation's educational system and among 
those opportunities is the reauthorization of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
  I think there is a lot of agreement on the need for education reform 
conditioned upon accountability and I look forward to working with 
Secretary Paige to achieve those goals.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I am pleased to have supported the 
nomination of Dr. Roderick Paige to be Secretary of Education. I 
believe that his commitment to the improvement of public schools and 
his diverse education experience will bring him success in this 
challenging and rewarding position. I am looking forward to working 
with him to address the critical issues associated with our nation's 
educational system.
  I am encouraged by Dr. Paige's accomplishments in Houston. The 
Houston Independent School District has seen dramatic changes under the 
leadership of Dr. Paige, including a decrease in the dropout rate and 
an increase in test scores. He has worked hard to foster partnerships 
between public schools and businesses and to encourage community 
involvement. Dr. Paige's seven year tenure as superintendent has shown 
him to be capable, creative, and committed to his students.
  As we enter a new Administration, it is important that we make the 
greatest effort to secure our public schools by providing them with the 
support they need. Whether it be through school modernization and class 
size reduction programs, or through increased financial aid for higher 
education, it is critical that we recognize the role of affordable, 
high quality public education for our children.
  Dr. Paige said, ``I think the public is where we need to begin our 
work. This is a public system, it is for the public's benefit, it is a 
public good, and the public must bring itself together and work hard to 
achieve it.'' I agree with him and believe that through hard work 
together, we will be able to achieve many good things for our schools, 
our children, and our Nation.


                     nomination of donald rumsfeld

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, as was apparent to all who attended Mr. 
Rumsfeld's confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services 
Committee, our new President has made a good choice for Secretary of 
Defense, one of the nations most important offices. Mr. Rumsfeld held 
this senior position during the Ford administration, a time when some 
Members of Congress were just getting their start in public service. 
Decades of experience, respect from both sides of the aisle, 
thoughtfulness, and a strong commitment to this nation make Donald 
Rumsfeld well qualified to again serve as Secretary of Defense.
  As ranking member of the Budget Committee in this equally divided 
Senate, I look forward to working closely with Mr. Rumsfeld to craft a 
defense budget that strengthens our nation's defense and makes sense in 
the context of our national fiscal priorities. In light of the fact 
that both the status quo within our armed forces and massive increases 
in defense spending are untenable, I am interested in talking with the 
new Secretary about a sustainable defense budget and making policy and 
procedural changes at the Pentagon that might enable us to retool for 
the information age and get more for our defense dollar.
  As the new administration begins to review our nation's approach to 
arms control, missile defense, and proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction, I would urge Mr. Rumsfeld to avoid preoccupation with 
specific numbers and keep efforts focused on a central objective: 
increasing strategic stability and nuclear safety. Toward that end, I 
hope the new Defense Secretary will support and expand the Nunn-Lugar 
Cooperative Threat Reduction program, broaden shared early warning 
initiatives, encourage more military-to-military contacts with Russia, 
address the particular threats associated with Russia's enormous 
tactical nuclear stockpile, resist de-alerting initiatives which could 
increase strategic uncertainty in a crisis, and ensure that the U.S. 
retains a robust and balanced triad of strategic nuclear forces.
  I want the record to reflect that I have been concerned by some of 
this nominee's statements regarding arms control. As my colleagues are 
aware, Mr. Rumsfeld suggested during his confirmation hearing that the 
ABM Treaty is an outdated relic of the cold war, and has discussed 
abandoning the process of arms control and sizing our strategic forces 
unilaterally. I urge Mr. Rumsfeld to reconsider these views. No arms 
accord is perfect, but over the past several decades the arms control 
process has produced momentum toward more inspections, transparency, 
reciprocity, and confidence-building between former cold war rivals.
  This momentum toward greater stability and trust was hard-won and

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should not be abandoned. One need look no farther than Russia's failure 
to fully implement the 1991 Bush-Gorbachev handshake agreement on 
tactical nuclear reductions to see the folly of unilateralism in arms 
control. In the view of this Senator, any further strategic force 
reductions would best be undertaken in the context of a new START 
accord, one built upon recognition that the ABM Treaty is the 
cornerstone of strategic stability and can allow the limited, 
effective, affordable national missile defense we need to counter 
emerging rogue-state threats.
  Finally, I look forward to talking with the new Defense Secretary 
about the importance of Defense Department compliance with statutes 
directing that the entire B-52H bomber force be funded. Billions of 
dollars of upgrades and the world's most advanced precision weapons 
have transformed these airframes into airborne arsenal ships which 
today represent the fast, sharp end of the spear in our conventional 
deterrent force.
  Mr. President, Donald Rumsfeld has an impressive record. He is 
qualified to be Secretary of Defense. I congratulate him on his 
confirmation and wish him the very best.


                     Nomination of Colin L. Powell

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I am honored to have supported the 
nomination of Colin Powell to be our next Secretary of State. Few 
individuals submitted to the Senate for confirmation have the 
credentials, experience, values, and respect of the Nation that Colin 
Powell has.
  Colin Powell has served our Nation with distinction in both civilian 
and military capacities. Powell served the Carter Administration as an 
executive assistant in both the Energy and Defense Departments. During 
the Reagan Administration, Powell was chosen as a senior adviser to 
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, and later held his first Cabinet 
post as National Security Advisor to President Reagan. During the Bush 
Administration, Colin Powell was nominated to serve as Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff. Most Americans, however, remember Colin Powell's 
role as the architect of Operation Desert Storm, and his unique skills 
in developing critical global alliances to defeat the Iraqis forces in 
1991.
  Colin Powell, however, represents more than a distinguished military 
leader. His life and those values that he has encouraged our young 
citizens to follow, are an inspiration to us all. During the decade 
since Operation Desert Storm, I have admired Colin Powell's efforts to 
reach out to America's youth, encouraging our younger citizens to 
continue their education, and to aspire to higher goals in life. For 
Powell, the challenge was to make sure that every child in America 
understands that he or she is important, and that we, as leaders and 
parents, are going to make certain that every one of them achieves 
success in life. To achieve this goal, Colin Powell urged Americans to 
step forward as mentors for our youth, and to make certain that young 
people have access to computers and the Internet. In my opinion, no 
challenge, and no effort is more important than the education of our 
youth.
  Few individuals that have served in this capacity have faced the 
extraordinary challenges and threats around the world. Relations with 
China, Russia, the Balkans and the Middle East, as well as the 
continued nuclear threat and terrorism will demand his immediate 
attention and skills. I am confident of his abilities to handle these 
challenges, and I am honored to work with Secretary of State Powell on 
these most difficult issues.
  Not long ago, Colin Powell was asked during an interview on 
Scholastic.com ``what do you believe history will say about you?'' His 
response: ``my only request of history is that history books say that I 
was a good soldier and served the nation well.'' Mr. President, Colin 
Powell has already achieved that goal. I am confident of his continued 
outstanding service to our Nation during the next four years, and 
perhaps most importantly, as a wonderful example to the youth of 
America.


                       Nomination of Donald Evans

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I supported the nomination of Donald Evans 
to be Secretary of Commerce. Don Evans has a distinguished background 
in private business as head of a large, independent energy firm. In 
addition, his experience as chairman of the Bush campaign and as 
Chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas system have 
helped prepare him for overseeing the wide-ranging programs of the 
Department of Commerce.
  As Secretary, Don Evans' first mission will be to promote U.S. 
exports. With a record trade deficit of more than $300 billion last 
year, I can think of few tasks more urgent than this one. As he takes 
on this responsibility, I urge him to remember the critical role that 
small businesses and agriculture play in our export successes and not 
concentrate solely on the role of the largest corporations. We also 
cannot forget the other side of the ledger. Mr. Evans will also be 
charged with enforcing our trade laws, another vital task to ensure 
that U.S. farmers and businesses are not competing against unfair 
imports.
  I am also very concerned about the so-called digital divide in the 
development of the communications infrastructure and the new e-economy. 
As Senator for one of the most rural states in the nation, it is 
critically important to me that our next Secretary aggressively work to 
close this digital divide to make sure rural North Dakotans get full 
access to the benefits of information technology.
  Finally, I would note that the Department of Commerce is responsible 
for collecting a range of statistics on our population and economy that 
are critical to informing the choices that we, as elected officials 
must make. The accuracy and accessibility of this data are essential to 
making the right choices for America's future.
  In short, Don Evans faces a host of challenges. I am confident that 
he will approach them with the same vigor and success with which he ran 
the Bush campaign, and I look forward to working with him in the months 
and years ahead.


                       nomination of ann veneman

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I look forward to working with Ann Veneman 
as Secretary of Agriculture. For North Dakota, there is no Cabinet 
position more important than this one.
  American agriculture faces a serious crisis that threatens the 
economic livelihood of North Dakota farmers and rural communities. Our 
next Secretary of Agriculture faces the challenge and responsibility of 
coming up with a new farm policy that addresses this crisis as well as 
the competitive challenges we face from overseas. Ms. Veneman has a 
long record on agricultural issues and will bring a depth of experience 
and commitment to the leadership of the Department of Agriculture.
  However, I must say her track record causes me some concern. Ms. 
Veneman was a cheerleader for the failed Freedom to Farm policy that 
has been such a disaster for North Dakota farmers. In fact, we've had 
to write economic disaster bills in each of the last three years to 
deal with the consequences of that disastrous legislation. Beyond that, 
Ms. Veneman was heavily involved in negotiating the Canadian Free Trade 
Agreement, which was another disaster for North Dakota. Nevertheless, I 
wish her well, and I'll do everything I can to work with her to change 
these policies.
  I think the first priority must be to rewrite the current federal 
farm policy. This is not working and it's very clear to everyone that 
it's not working. Prices are at record lows. Farmers are leaving the 
land. And rural main street businesses are suffering.
  Next, we must re-invigorate our agricultural trade policy. We've got 
to be engaged in world trade but it's got to be on a fair, competitive 
basis. I think we've got to level the playing field with our major 
competitors--the Europeans--who are outspending us 10 to one in terms 
of providing support for their producers. Leveling the playing field is 
one of my highest priorities, so we get farm income up and so our 
farmers have a fair chance to succeed.
  As a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, I look forward to 
working with Ms. Veneman as we take on these challenges.

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