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.
[Pages S2245-S2246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
S. RES. 50
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday, the Senate took an important
step to restore sense and order to the way we approach the Executive
Calendar. It is one of this body's most important responsibilities. Yet
it has been hampered recently by a campaign of systematic and
comprehensive obstruction that stands literally without precedent in
American history.
I won't restate each part of our debate from the floor yesterday, but
the objective facts of this situation are unambiguous. For the past 2
years, we have witnessed the accelerated erosion of the norms by which
this body has historically considered Presidential nominations. We have
seen a disappointing series of records broken in the process, such as
128 cloture votes on nominations in this President's first 2 years--
more than 5 times as many as in the same period of every administration
since Jimmy Carter, combined. Forty-two executive branch positions took
cloture votes for the first time ever.
This has been a new level of paralysis, surrounding even the most
qualified and least controversial nominees. In a way, it has been the
natural outgrowth of the erosion on nominations that began back in 2003
when our current Democratic leader helped spur his side of the aisle to
walk away from longstanding institutional norms and declare the
Executive Calendar open season for regular, chronic filibuster tactics
and forced cloture votes. That is when this relatively new mess began
in earnest.
In 2013, in a truly bipartisan vote, a number of Republicans,
including me, joined with Democrats to implement new expedited
procedures for lower tier nominees. We put them in place right at the
beginning of President Obama's second term, even as we on this side
were still licking our wounds from the previous November's election
result.
This week, our Democratic colleagues had the chance to reciprocate.
They had the opportunity to do the parallel thing, exactly the same
thing, and vote to limit undue Senate delays for this Republican
administration the same way we Republicans did for President Obama's
administration. Oh, but they weren't interested.
These days, I am sorry to say, the other side of the aisle seems to
be dominated by pure partisanship over absolutely everything else.
Remember, it wasn't long ago that this current behavior would have
appeared unimaginable. Just a few decades ago, the idea of routinely
forcing 60-vote thresholds and extra delays on nominations was firmly
in third-rail territory. Well, a lot has happened since then, but I
hope my colleagues share my belief that the Senate's traditions and
norms are its greatest assets. In that respect, yesterday was a very
good day for this body as an institution.
The Senate has historically been defined by two traditions. One has
preserved the power of the minority in considering legislation--to pump
the brakes or force a second look. That includes the legislative
filibuster, which I know many of us on both sides are 100 percent
committed to preserving. In my view and in the view of many, it is
inseparable from the way this body was designed. It is what keeps the
Senate from swinging wildly back and forth between each party's entire
agenda.
I don't think my Democratic colleagues who are running for President
and publicly toying with undermining the legislative filibuster would
be too keen to see Republicans enact our entire, full-tilt conservative
agenda with just 51 votes, because some day the shoe will be on the
other foot. The shoe, in fact, always at some point ends up on the
other foot.
That is one tradition.
The second tradition, concerning nominations, has always been
different. For decades and decades, it allowed for a reasonable process
for the vast majority of Presidents' nominees. Yesterday, even though
Democrats walked away and Republicans had to act alone, we took a big
step toward restoring that second part of Senate tradition.
I am sure yesterday's progress has not resolved every sore spot. I
feel certain that we have not seen the last of our Democratic
colleagues' addiction
[[Page S2246]]
to endlessly relitigating the 2016 elections instead of moving forward.
But with yesterday's action, the Senate has begun to move past this
particularly shameful new chapter. We have turned the page on the kind
of systematic obstruction and purely partisan delays that were
completely foreign to this Chamber a few years ago but have since
become a daily routine. Now more progress can take place.
Yesterday, after two unopposed committee votes and more than a year
and a half after Jeffrey Kessler was named as President Trump's choice
for Assistant Secretary of Commerce, his nomination was subjected to a
cloture vote, 95 to 3. Because of our new procedures, he was confirmed
by voice vote just 2 hours later. Then we voted to end debate on the
nomination of Roy Altman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of Florida--another uncontroversial, bipartisan
nominee. Today we will confirm him as well. Then we will vote to end
debate on the nomination of Mark Calabria to direct the Federal Housing
Finance Agency, and then we will vote to confirm him too.
Nominees will now be moving at a more reasonable pace, and important
jobs are finally being filled. Already there is real progress thanks to
yesterday's pivot back to the Senate's historic tradition. We will keep
working to clear the backlog of talented individuals who are still
waiting patiently behind them.
____________________