April 10, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 62 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S2397-S2398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF DAVID BERNHARDT

  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, time and again over the past 2 years, we 
have seen a clear pattern in the types of people Donald Trump nominates 
to serve in his Cabinet.
  They have extensive conflicts of interest. If confirmed, they work to 
advance the interest of former clients and special interests, and in 
doing so, they are often hostile to the very mission of the very 
Department they have been nominated to lead.
  We have seen this time and again with the same disastrous results--
from Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency and Ryan Zinke 
at the Department of Interior to Andy Puzder at the Department of Labor 
and Tom Price at Health and Human Services.
  Today, the majority leader and Senate Republicans are forcing through 
the nomination of David Bernhardt to serve as Secretary of the 
Interior--another person who fits Trump's pattern for conflicted, 
unethical Cabinet nominees.
  Bernhardt brings so many conflicts of interest to the job that he has 
to carry a list around in his pocket to remind himself of what they 
are. I am putting up this graphic poster that shows a card he carries 
around in his pocket to remind himself of the people he is not supposed 
to be interacting with or helping.
  In normal times, a President would not nominate someone with David 
Bernhardt's background as a superlobbyist who represented interests 
before the Department he was nominated to lead. In normal times, the 
majority party would push back against a nominee who brings so many 
obvious conflicts of interest to the job. But these are not normal 
times, and the Senate is moving in an all-fired rush to confirm someone 
who shouldn't have been nominated in the first place.
  During his tenure as Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Bernhardt 
was well-placed to deliver results for the special interests who paid 
his firm millions of dollars to lobby on their behalf over the past 
decade.
  Mr. Bernhardt, for example, spent years lobbying on behalf of an 
organization with a misleading name--the Center for Environmental 
Science, Accuracy & Reliability, or CESAR. Far from being a nonpartisan 
group, CESAR is an industry front group dedicated to, among other 
things, attacking and weakening the Endangered Species Act, the ESA.
  As a lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Bernhardt 
spearheaded CESAR's efforts to gut the ESA through a disingenuous shell 
campaign to list the American eel as a threatened or endangered 
species.
  Here is what they did. First, CESAR petitioned the Fish and Wildlife 
Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to designate the American 
eel--a species whose habitat spans the entire east coast of the United 
States--as a threatened or endangered species. These Agencies are 
required to complete their review of such a position within 90 days. 
Both Agencies were unable to complete their review on such a short 
timeline, and CESAR filed a lawsuit in DC District Court.
  CESAR did not undertake this campaign with the objective of 
protecting a threatened or endangered species. Instead, as an E&E News 
report made clear, CESAR tried to undermine the law by making it nearly 
impossible to enforce.
  Why was this the case? Because the American eel has habitat all along 
the eastern seaboard and to make a listing and to conduct critical 
habitat designations would be a paralyzing undertaking that might force 
Congress to undergo a rewrite of the ESA.
  Mr. Bernhardt did not just represent CESAR, but he has also served on 
their board for many years. It was reasonable to conclude, therefore, 
that his sustained personal advocacy on behalf of his client to 
undermine the ESA would carry over to his work at the Department of the 
Interior, and, indeed, it has.
  Last summer, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and

[[Page S2398]]

Wildlife Service proposed some of the most drastic changes to the ESA 
in 30 years. These changes include allowing economic estimates during 
the listing process, changing the definition of ``foreseeable future'' 
to not allow for the consideration of climate change when determining 
whether to list a species and removing a blanket rule that protects 
threatened species.
  It certainly doesn't seem like a coincidence that the Department is 
considering such radical changes to the ESA under the leadership of Mr. 
Bernhardt--someone who was paid by his clients to challenge it.
  Over the past few weeks, we have also learned from reporting in the 
New York Times about Mr. Bernhardt's efforts to suppress a Fish and 
Wildlife Service report on the impacts of certain pesticides on 
endangered species. This report was due to be released more than 1\1/2\ 
years ago, and despite documents indicating that the Department had 
completed the report on time, it has yet to be released.
  Last week, I, along with several of my colleagues, sent a letter to 
the Department's deputy inspector general, requesting that she open an 
investigation into these allegations. Based on Mr. Bernhardt's industry 
priorities and past attempts to weaken the ESA, I think it is prudent 
that we get to the bottom of what is going on at the Department before 
confirming him.
  If the Department of the Interior's mission is to ``provide 
scientific and other information about natural resources,'' then isn't 
it Mr. Bernhardt's job to ensure that scientific reports on the impacts 
of chemicals on endangered species are released in a timely manner, 
especially knowing that these species are threatened or endangered? Yet 
this report has been kept back for over 1 year.
  Unfortunately, I don't think he considers that a priority of his job. 
Instead, he seems to prioritize moving the levers within the Department 
that he was unsuccessful in moving while representing his clients as a 
lobbyist.
  This pattern of activity also extends to his former clients in the 
oil and gas industry. During the government shutdown, for example, Mr. 
Bernhardt recalled furloughed DOI employees in order to have them 
process and approve 267 offshore oil drilling permits and 16 leases for 
drilling on public land. His decisive action on behalf of oil and gas 
interests came as thousands of employees went without pay and critical 
Federal services were shuttered for over 1 month.
  Is it really any wonder that executives from the Independent 
Petroleum Association of America were caught on tape bragging about the 
unprecedented access they have to Mr. Bernhardt at the Department?
  The American people deserve an Interior Secretary devoted to the 
mission of the Department, not the narrow special interests of his 
former lobbyist clients.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose this nomination and await the IG 
report before voting on this nomination.
  One would hope that with all of these conflicts he has to carry 
around in his pocket, surely we can come up with someone to lead this 
Department who actually has the mission of the Department as his 
calling. That is not the case with Mr. Bernhardt.
  I yield the floor.

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