[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12484-12486]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            JONES NOMINATION

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. I thank the majority leader for his work and the 
Members of the Senate for allowing Todd Jones to get a vote to head the 
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau. This is a job that has gone 
unfilled, as you know, for 7 years, since it became confirmable under 
law--7 years, under President Bush, under President Obama. These 2,400 
agents have had no leader.
  During that time they have investigated extensive crimes, including 
just this year the Boston Marathon bombing, as well as the explosion in 
Texas. These are just examples of what these agents are doing. They 
deserve a full-time leader.
  Mr. Jones is a former marine. He has five children. He has been going 
back and forth in Minnesota between the U.S. attorney's job and doing 
the ATF job for 2 years.
  Enough is enough. I am glad we are moving forward with this 
nomination. I am glad for Mr. Jones, who deserves it, and who has been 
willing to put his name forward, willing to come in, clean up this 
agency after Fast and Furious and all the concerns we all had with that 
effort. He was willing to come in, take over this very difficult job, 
and do two jobs at once. He deserves to be confirmed for this job.
  I am pleased for the agents as well, those 2,400 hard-working people 
who simply go to work every day, immune from the politicians, immune 
from what Democrats think or what Republicans think. They just deserve 
a boss. That is what this vote is about.


                                  NIH

  Mr. President, I want to finish my remarks about NIH. It is 
incredibly important in my State. It is the home of the Mayo Clinic, 
the home of the University of Minnesota where they are now undertaking 
the simple task of mapping the brain. And talk about what these cuts 
mean--I focused before on the stories of individual Minnesotans, but I 
also spoke about the cost if we do not do anything, the cost of 
inaction, the cost of not doing the research, looking at Alzheimer's as 
an example. If we were able to delay the onset of Alzheimer's by just 5 
years--this is not curing it; this is simply delaying the onset by 5 
years--if we were able to delay the onset of Alzheimer's by 5 years, 
similar to the effect that anticholesterol drugs have on preventing 
heart disease, we would be able to cut the government spending on 
Alzheimer's care by almost half in 2050. We are talking about billions 
of dollars.
  The answer, of course, to delay the onset of Alzheimer's by 5 years 
will not just drop from the sky. It needs dedicated scientists and 
doctors with the resources to conduct the experimentation and to move 
forward. I have seen what they are doing with mapping the brain. I met 
with those scientists afterward, and I asked them about the 
groundbreaking work.
  They talked about the effect this is having on young scientists who 
are afraid to go into these fields. They don't know if their research 
will be funded because there is only enough money to fund the research 
that has been going on for years. So many innovative ideas can be lost 
if this continues.

[[Page 12485]]

  At lunch last week we all heard from Francis Collins, who heads up 
the NIH. He talked about the hope and exciting developments that are 
going on in combating diseases. Yet our country--what a time to step 
back. This is not the time to step back when we are on the verge of 
delaying the onset of Alzheimer's, of helping so many people, and 
saving so much money. What we are spending on research is literally a 
drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the disease.
  Investment in NIH is not just right to do from a public health 
perspective, it also makes good economic sense. NIH generates tens of 
billions of dollars in new economic activity across the country each 
year and supports hundreds of thousands of good jobs.
  In 2012, NIH funding supported 8,800 jobs in my State alone. 
Unfortunately, Federal investment in medical research has stagnated in 
the last decade. As a result of sequestration, funding for NIH was 
slashed $1.55 billion this year alone. This cut means 700 fewer 
competitive research grants will be funded and 750 fewer patients will 
be admitted to the NIH clinical center. This reduction comes at a time 
when we are funding only 18 percent of potential projects. That is a 
record low for the second year in a row.
  In Minnesota, the University of Minnesota could lose $50 million of 
its $700 million Federal research budget in the next couple of years. 
This drop in support not only threatens research in the short term but 
could have devastating effects on innovation in the United States for 
many years to come.
  I hear from countless students and researchers who are considering 
leaving the field or even the country because funding is not available 
here. If we are not going to have the funding, they are going to do 
their research in Canada or some other country. We can't allow the 
pipeline of future researchers to dry up or move overseas. Investing in 
medical research is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing 
do, and that is why support for this research is not a partisan issue 
in the Senate.
  I thank Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Mikulski and Ranking 
Member Shelby and the Labor and Health and Human Services Subcommittee 
chairman, Senator Harkin, and Ranking Member Moran for their strong 
leadership on this issue. I applaud the work they have done 
prioritizing NIH funding by providing $31 billion in 2014. This figure 
could again be cut by billions if we do not replace the sequester with 
sensible, targeted spending cuts similar to what we included in the 
Senate budget.
  Why put the money aside if we are going to then slash it because of 
sequester, when we all know it should be replaced with more targeted 
spending cuts, something that makes more sense, is a mix of revenue and 
spending cuts as suggested by the Simpson-Bowles Commission and every 
other economic commission that looked at this matter. It is time to 
replace sequestration with something that makes sense. Cutting research 
that saves and lengthens people's lives who have Alzheimer's, diabetes, 
and helps people who have autism is the wrong way to go.
  We all agree about the importance of reining in wasteful spending and 
reducing the deficit and the need for the government to improve its 
fiscal discipline, but we cannot do this in a way that is penny wise 
and pound foolish. Fiscal responsibility is about values and priorities 
just as much as it is about dollars and cents. It is about spending 
smart as well as spending cuts.
  I strongly support NIH and the hope it brings to people in my State 
and across the country. I look forward to working with my colleagues in 
a bipartisan fashion to replace the cuts imposed by the sequester and 
ensure our country maintains its leadership in medical innovation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hirono). The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I wish to thank and join my friend 
and colleague from Minnesota Senator Klobuchar in her remarks about 
Todd Jones. He is one of two very distinguished law enforcement 
nominees who will come before this body for confirmation in the coming 
days.
  I wish to join my friend in enthusiastically praising Acting Director 
Jones for his perseverance and courage in the past months, indeed 
years, he has served in this critical position.
  When we recently went through the debate on sensible commonsense gun 
violence measures--which, unfortunately, did not pass this body--we 
often heard about the need for more prosecutions, more effective 
investigation and pursuit of cases against lawbreakers involving guns. 
Todd Jones is committed to that task. I believe--with many others--that 
there needs to be more prosecutions and more effective enforcement of 
these laws.
  ATF needs more resources to do those prosecutions and it needs more 
leadership, which Todd Jones can provide if he is confirmed and given 
the mandate from the Senate that he needs and the agency deserves to do 
its work more effectively.
  In just a few minutes, we will hear from my great friend and 
colleague from Connecticut about the continuing scourge of gun violence 
and how it continues to take a toll in the absence of effective 
measures from the Congress.
  I join my colleague in urging that this body fulfill its obligation, 
mandate, and responsibility from the American people to do more and do 
it more effectively. We need to adopt sensible measures, such as 
national background checks, a ban on illegal trafficking and straw 
purchases, a more effective mental health initiative, and school safety 
measures, which Todd Jones will bring to this office. He will address 
gun violence and all of the responsibilities within the important 
purview of the ATF.
  The Alcohol, Traffic, and Firearms Bureau has a long, storied, and 
distinguished history, and Todd Jones will make it more so through his 
leadership.
  Equally important, this afternoon we will vote on James Comey--I am 
proud to say he is a resident of Fairfield, CT--as the next Director of 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I know this agency well because I 
worked with agents of the FBI day in and day out when I was U.S. 
attorney in Connecticut for 4\1/2\ years. I know it well because I have 
seen his work as attorney general of Connecticut. I know it well 
because over the years I have come to know the extraordinary men and 
women of the FBI.
  They are extraordinary in their bravery, perseverance, and skill. 
They are extraordinary in their expertise, experience, and their 
respect for the law, which is so critical. They have a sense of balance 
and mission along with their dedication to making America safer. Their 
mandate and purview has expanded over the years from the days when car 
thefts and kidnapping comprised a major part of their caseload to now 
cybersecurity, terrorism, and computer hacking.
  Jim Comey is a man for the modern FBI, an agency with a long and 
distinguished history that now faces new threats and new 
responsibilities. He is truly a prosecutor's prosecutor. His life's 
work has been about law enforcement.
  He began in the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. 
attorney in the Southern District of New York. He rose to become Deputy 
Chief of the Criminal Division. He soon moved to the job of managing 
assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where his 
superiors recognized his exceptional ability, his remarkable 
combination of scholarship, and practical sense of investigation.
  When they assigned to him responsibility for the terrorist attack on 
the Khobar barracks in Saudi Arabia, he quickly delivered 14 
indictments and earned another promotion. This time he was promoted to 
become the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. His 
service there was recognized as remarkably distinguished and 
successful, especially in overseeing that office's terrorism 
investigations and prosecutions. He made a priority of corporate 
crime--white-collar crime.

[[Page 12486]]

  He never feared to take on the toughest of challenges. He prosecuted 
big businesses but also terrorism. He received the Director's Award for 
superior performance and the Henry L. Stimson Medal from the New York 
City Bar Association.
  He became Deputy Attorney General, the second highest ranking 
official at the Department of Justice. In that job--and much has been 
written about this incident in his professional life--he demonstrated 
unbelievable and passionate dedication to the rule of law by standing 
up to his own superiors and in speaking truth to power on a variety of 
issues but most especially when he stood up to some of the President's 
men, and his own superiors, in saying he would stand for personal 
constitutional rights at a time when they were threatened. He has been 
a person of integrity and dedication to the rule of law--bigger than 
any single person throughout his career--even in the face of that kind 
of tremendous pressure.
  In my conversations with him, he has also committed himself to the 
vigorous and zealous pursuit of gun violence. I have spoken to him 
publicly and privately about this issue. He testified in response to my 
questions, and others, and clearly demonstrated his commitment to 
effective enforcement of existing and improved laws, such as background 
checks and a ban on straw purchases and illegal trafficking.
  He has also committed himself publicly, and in his conversation with 
me, to a continued crackdown on human trafficking. I wish to thank and 
commend the FBI for its stunningly successful arrests of 150 pimps. 
They rescued 105 children in a nationwide crackdown--literally within 
the past 24 to 48 hours--including 6 children in New Haven, CT.
  This stunning success shows dramatically--including the rescue of six 
children in Connecticut--how this invisible, pernicious scourge can hit 
close to home. It has hit home in Connecticut. I saw it, as attorney 
general of our State, as a crime, a predatory scourge that hits men and 
women and children--most searingly and heartbreakingly, children who 
are forced into labor or into sexual exploitation.
  The FBI's crackdown shows that an effective partnership involving 
local police--like law enforcement in New Haven, CT, where six children 
were rescued--along with State and Federal law enforcement can 
effectively crack down on this scourge. The FBI is to be commended and 
so is Mr. Comey for his commitment to combat this problem.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time is expired.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent for 2 
additional minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. As I said, I commend the FBI and I thank them for 
this effective action and Mr. Comey for his commitment to continuing 
that crackdown on human trafficking.
  I also thank his wife and his family, his five children, for their 
generosity in becoming an adoption family; that is, adopting children, 
through the licensed foster parents program in Connecticut. I thank 
them for becoming foster parents, I should say more accurately, and 
caring for infants and toddlers. They have also donated money to create 
a foundation to support children who age out of foster care.
  He is truly a man dedicated to public service. We will be proud of 
him as an effective and able leader of the FBI in a challenging time.
  I yield the floor.

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