[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 19361-19362]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, after we complete work on the Defense 
authorization bill, this body will consider several essential 
nominations, including the new Federal Reserve Chair--so important, as 
we learned yesterday from the announcement of Chairman Ben Bernanke how 
terribly important that institution is. He is leaving. We need someone 
to replace him.
  We also are going to approve a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, 
a new Director of the Internal Revenue Service. We will also consider a 
nomination that has been pending for 2 years--more than 2 years 
actually--the nomination of Brian Davis of Florida to fill a judicial 
seat that has been declared an emergency, as well as a handful of other 
nominations.
  All those nominees are qualified and dedicated public servants. I 
have not heard a single word about these nominations being flawed in 
any way. Those nominees have broad bipartisan support. Their positions 
safeguard the economy, thus ensuring our national security. I am 
disappointed that Republican Senators have suggested that those 
nominees are nonessential or unimportant. I heard one Senator say: Just 
do them next year. Another said: Yes, they are nonessential. They are 
really unimportant. Why don't we do them next year?
  Everyone should understand, the Senate will not wait until the new 
year to consider these nominations. These are critical nominations. If 
that means working through the weekend, next

[[Page 19362]]

week, so be it. The Senate will finish its work before we leave for the 
holidays. It is our constitutional duty. Public servants who set our 
Nation's monetary policy and guard against terrorism and deliver us 
justice do not hold nonessential positions.
  Is Janet Yellen, to be chosen as Federal Reserve Chair, nonessential? 
It is shallow to even suggest this. Brain Davis. I have already talked 
about this good man who has waited 2 years to become a Federal trial 
judge in Florida, that has too many criminal cases, too many civil 
cases, and it has been declared a judicial emergency. I suggest it is 
very shallow to suggest this nomination is unimportant and not 
essential.
  Alejandro Mayorkas to be the No. 2 person at the Department of 
Homeland Security is vitally important, as has been laid out in detail 
by the chairman of the committee Tom Carper. How shallow to think this 
important nominee is nonessential.
  How about this one? John Koskinen to be Commissioner of the Internal 
Revenue Service. With all that is going on in this country with 
ObamaCare, with all that is happening, we need someone to direct the 
Internal Revenue Service. To suggest this is not a critical position is 
really very shallow.
  With all of the Republican obstruction and delay we have seen over 
the last 2 weeks, is it any wonder Democrats changed the rules last 
month? Of course not. The American people want Congress to work, not 
obstruct. Even under these new rules, Republicans are wasting weeks on 
matters that could be resolved in mere hours. As always, there is an 
easy and a hard way that we legislators can take. One is to move; the 
other is to obstruct. So far, my Republican colleagues have obstructed, 
and they continue to do so. The choice to obstruct is theirs. Their 
obstruction has become a bad habit of theirs. For the good of the 
country, their obstruction, these bad habits, need to go away.

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