[Pages S1854-S1855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Michael Faulkender

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote 
in favor of the confirmation of Mr. Michael Faulkender, who is 
nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
  The Deputy Secretary advises and assists the Secretary in the 
supervision and direction of all of the Department and its activities. 
Along with Secretary Bessent, the Deputy Secretary will be thoroughly 
involved in Congress's efforts to craft pro-growth tax policies, which 
will benefit all Americans and allow U.S. businesses to compete on the 
global stage. Mr. Faulkender's depth of experience in the public and 
private sector, in addition to his academic credentials, makes him a 
highly qualified choice for this position.
  Mr. Faulkender spoke strongly at his confirmation hearing about his 
determination to tackle America's affordability crisis. I look forward 
to working with him to restore economic prosperity and opportunity and 
usher in the economic golden age envisioned by the President.
  Mr. Faulkender, also, clearly met the standard of the Finance 
Committee's rigorous nomination process, and I commend the candor and 
the diligence that he displayed during the extensive meetings that he 
had with committee members and committee staff.
  Qualified nominees for Deputy Treasury Secretary in prior 
administrations have normally received bipartisan support. I strongly 
encourage my colleagues today, on both sides of the aisle, to join me 
in voting to confirm Mr. Faulkender.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page S1855]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
5 minutes after 5.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and colleagues, the Senate will soon take a 
vote on the nomination of Michael Faulkender to serve as Deputy 
Treasury Secretary. I urge my colleagues to oppose the nomination.
  I am going to take just a few minutes to explain why he got zero 
support from Democrats in the Finance Committee, and I am going to 
start with the big picture.
  For the last 2 months, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have let loose a 
pack of cronies who, in my view, are looting the United States of 
America. They are violating laws, they are blocking accountability, and 
they are breaking key programs in ways that are going to hurt a lot of 
Americans.
  All the while, there has been a parade of Trump nominees marching 
through the Senate, and one after the other they pretend that they know 
nothing about what I just said. They all swear up and down that they 
follow the law. Under their watch, everything will be on the level.
  The reality is, in nearly every case, it is just not true.
  Just yesterday, in the Finance Committee, the nominee to head up 
Social Security told me that he was not involved in any discussions 
regarding DOGE personnel at Social Security. I asked him directly. That 
was his response, and his response was a lie.
  The committee had received whistleblower testimony from a senior 
official who worked at Social Security and has recently left. The 
whistleblower said this nominee had personally intervened to get key 
DOGE officials installed at Social Security.
  This is happening again and again. Trump nominees show up in the 
Senate, and they always say: I am a choir boy.
  But they are directly involved in the ransacking of the country, and 
Americans are outraged from coast to coast.
  Dr. Faulkender is another example. He has been in the building at 
Treasury since January 21, working in an unofficial capacity. So he 
knows what is going on there. He knows that DOGE personnel showed up at 
Treasury with the intent of violating our constitutional authority over 
Federal funding. Yet, when he was asked about DOGE's activity at 
Treasury and at the IRS, he, too, had nothing to say--just a bunch of 
dodging and ducking.
  I asked him, as well, directly whether the President has the 
authority to impound funds, which is a constitutional breach.
  His answer was:

       I do not know the legal authority of the President when it 
     comes to impoundment.

  However, during a television interview last year, he actually said he 
supported impoundment and talked about how the President should use it 
to trample over congressional appropriations and our article I 
authority.
  If confirmed, he will be the No. 2 official at the Department that 
oversees the IRS, but he had nothing to say about the fact that the 
administration is intent on violating taxpayer privacy laws and 
weaponizing the IRS against American taxpayers.
  But it wasn't all bobbing and weaving during the hearing. In fact, 
the most telling moment was when Dr. Faulkender decided to give an 
awfully revealing answer to a question he probably could have avoided.
  Here is what happened.
  Everybody understands that the Treasury Department's big job under 
Donald Trump is giving huge handouts to billionaires and corporations. 
They plan to pay for it, in part, by slashing Medicaid and kicking tens 
of millions of Americans off their healthcare.
  Senator Warnock, our colleague, asked Dr. Faulkender a pretty simple 
question.
  He asked:

       Do you think that it's a good idea to take families off of 
     Medicaid?

  The funny thing is nobody would have blamed him for saying that the 
Treasury doesn't have jurisdiction over Medicaid so he wouldn't have to 
take a position, but that is not what he said.
  Dr. Faulkender went out of his way to defend the Republican plan to 
slash Medicaid and kick tens of millions of Americans off their 
healthcare. He answered with the same traditional Republican spin--that 
it was all about ``self-sufficiency and getting off of government 
dependency.''
  We are talking about a program that covers nearly 40 million kids, 
half of all kids with special needs, and two-thirds of all nursing home 
beds in America. Without Medicaid, rural America would become even more 
of a healthcare desert.
  Dr. Faulkender's nonsense about self-sufficiency is basically what I 
call trickle-down economics for healthcare. It is a talking point that 
papers over an agenda that benefits the very affluent at the expense of 
everybody else.
  So, colleagues, this is another case of a nominee dodging nearly all 
the tough questions and misrepresenting his role in what is going on in 
the Trump administration. The most forthcoming answer we got during his 
nomination indicated that he is totally on board with the agenda that 
is going to put people's lives in danger by kicking tens of millions of 
Americans off their health insurance so that those at the very top, 
like Elon Musk, can afford bigger yachts and probably some kind of 
island.
  Dr. Faulkender has been at Treasury since January 21. He is already 
tied up with DOGE. He has already made himself a part of the harm that 
the Trump administration, through DOGE, is inflicting on the American 
people. That is why he got zero support from Democrats in committee.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose this nomination when the Senate votes 
on it in a little bit.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.