[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17978]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      FOREIGN SERVICE NOMINATIONS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, for more than 3 months, the senior Senator 
from Iowa has been blocking the confirmation, the promotion of more 
than 20 career Foreign Service officers.
  These Foreign Service officers are career diplomats. They are some of 
the finest people in our government. They are brave. They work in some 
of the most remote, difficult, and crime-ridden war zones in the world. 
Many of these Foreign Service officers are always ready to serve at a 
moment's notice in hotspots throughout the world--hot spots like Iraq 
and Afghanistan.
  These diplomats are not partisan; they are diplomats. They are not 
political appointments. That is why it is troubling to see the senior 
Senator from Iowa politicize their promotions. He admits that he is 
blocking the promotion of these Foreign Service officers until he gets 
answers about Secretary Hillary Clinton's emails and her aide, a woman 
by the name of Huma Abedin.
  I have told Senator Grassley he is making a mistake by targeting 
these fine public servants. They have worked all over the world. With 
rare exception, they know multiple languages. But instead of changing 
course and doing what is right by these diplomats, Senator Grassley 
seems to be doubling down on his obstruction.
  As the Senator from Iowa digs in on this failed policy, more innocent 
people--these diplomats--are being caught in the resulting backlog. 
Last month, the Senate received several letters containing more than 
600 Foreign Service promotions. In years past, it didn't matter if 
Democrats controlled the Senate or Republicans, they would have passed 
that list quickly in a matter of a day or two, with no opposition, of 
course.
  Times have changed, and these lists of 600 career Foreign Service 
officers sit unpassed before this body. Among the 600 individuals on 
this promotion list are two people from Iowa. These Iowans--that is 
right, two of the constituents of the senior Senator from Iowa are 
being denied a promotion.
  Why are nonpartisan public servants being used as political pawns, 
especially if they are being blocked just because Senator Grassley 
doesn't want Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United 
States. I haven't heard who he is supporting--Trump, Carson, Cruz, 
Rubio, Bush, Christie, or a long list of others. But, obviously, he 
doesn't want Hillary Clinton to be elected.
  So I ask the senior Senator from Iowa: Is he blocking two of his own 
constituents? Why? Should Senator Grassley allow all of the Foreign 
Service lists to be confirmed by the Senate without further delay? Of 
course he should. We could confirm them right now.
  It is time for my friend from Iowa to end these foolish campaigns to 
undermine Secretary Clinton. Under Senator Grassley's leadership, the 
Judiciary Committee continues to hound the State Department for 
information about Secretary Clinton and her staffers. He and his fellow 
Republicans want emails. He wants to see timesheets for State 
Department employees, as do some other Republicans. Committee staff 
wants transcribed interviews with email vendors, and they want 
maternity leave records for one of Secretary Clinton's closest aides, 
Huma Abedin.
  Think about that: Republicans want to know how long a member of 
Secretary Clinton's staff took for her maternity leave. Is that 
ludicrous? Of course it is.
  Those who know Ms. Abedin best can vouch for her integrity and her 
work ethic as a close aide to Senator Clinton for decades. When her 
reputation was attacked in the past--that is Ms. Abedin's--Republicans, 
including Senator John McCain, defended her.
  Here is what Senator McCain said: ``an intelligent, upstanding, hard-
working, loyal servant of our country . . . the daughter of immigrants 
who has risen to the highest levels of our government on her 
substantial personal merit.''
  Can my colleagues imagine wanting to know if she took off too much 
time to have a baby?
  Let's remember that she is a staff member, not a principal. It is one 
thing to level charges at an elected Member of Congress or the 
administration. It is a completely different matter to target a staff 
member, especially someone who Senator McCain says ``represents the 
best about America.''
  How much money would a Republican Congress waste to try to bring down 
Hillary Clinton? We don't know by the numbers. We have already seen 
that the so-called House Select Committee on Benghazi has wasted 18 
months and more than $5 million. Numerous other committees have 
conducted similar investigations. We don't know how much they have 
cost, but it is millions.
  How much taxpayer money is Senator Grassley and the Judiciary 
Committee wasting on its anti-Clinton campaign? We know how much money 
and staff are being devoted to investigating Secretary Clinton in the 
House--$8,000 to $10,000 a day, and that is low-balling. How many 
millions of dollars are the American people paying for the Judiciary 
Committee to duplicate the House's wasteful political attacks?
  The senior Senator from Iowa is always talking on the floor about the 
proper use of taxpayer resources. He should walk into his bathroom, 
look into the mirror, and find out what he is doing about the proper 
use of taxpayer resources. He should be willing to tell us about the 
resources his committee has used to investigate Secretary Clinton.
  The American people deserve to know how much money is being spent on 
these investigations, especially if 600 honorable Foreign Service 
officers are going to be used as political pawns in a crusade to keep 
Hillary Clinton from being elected President. I hope he will drop his 
opposition to career diplomats and other important nominations so we 
can give these good people the promotions they have earned.
  As I travel the world through these many years, Madam President, I 
always go to the embassies, and I always ask them to see as many of the 
staff there as possible. I tell them there is no finer group of people 
representing America today than our Foreign Service corps, and I stand 
by that. It is a shame that I have to come to the floor and talk about 
this. We should pass these nominations tonight with no further delay.
  Would the Chair tell us the schedule of today's business in the 
Senate.

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