Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Page S5650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the next nomination.
The senior assistant bill clerk read the nomination of Daniel Habib
Jorjani, of Kentucky, to be Solicitor of the Department of the
Interior.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I want to address a matter relating to
the nomination of Daniel Jorjani to be Solicitor at the Department of
Interior. In March, I joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Interior
raising concerns about proposed updates to its Freedom of Information
Act, FOIA, regulations. These changes appeared to shift the burden of
identifying the location of agency hold records from the agency to the
public, set limits on requests when they involve processing a ``vast
quantity of material,'' and imposed a monthly limit on the processing
of records for a given requester--all of which have no identifiable
basis in the FOIA statute. Since then, reports indicated other
concerning FOIA policies at Interior that could result in unlawful
delays of FOIA responses--policies that were in place while Mr. Jorjani
served as Deputy Solicitor, with key FOIA responsibilities. Over the
weekend, Interior's inspector general confirmed an investigation into
the FOIA process at Interior. I look forward to reading the results of
this investigation and learning more about the development of these
policies. If confirmed as Solicitor at Interior, Mr. Jorjani would
oversee and resolve FOIA appeals, among other critically important
transparency policies. As we have seen in successive administrations,
FOIA requests are often viewed as the skunk at the picnic. But the
government's business is the people's business. Going forward, Mr.
Jorjani would do well to consult with Congress on any FOIA policy
matters at Interior to ensure compliance with the law. I intend to vote
for Mr. Jorjani today, but let me be clear: I will be holding him--and
any others under any administration--accountable to faithful compliance
with both the letter and spirit of FOIA.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and
consent to the Jorjani nomination?
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker),
the Senator from California (Ms. Harris), the Senator from Alabama (Mr.
Jones), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from
Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 51, nays 43, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 300 Ex.]
YEAS--51
Alexander
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
McConnell
McSally
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shelby
Sullivan
Thune
Toomey
Wicker
Young
NAYS--43
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hirono
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Manchin
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Warren
Wyden
NOT VOTING--6
Booker
Harris
Jones
Sanders
Tillis
Whitehouse
The nomination was confirmed.
____________________
