EXECUTIVE SESSION; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 156
(Senate - September 26, 2019)

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[Pages S5723-S5725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following 
nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read nomination of General 
John E. Hyten for appointment as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff and for appointment in the United States Air Force to the grade 
indicated while assigned to a position of importance and responsibility 
in accordance with title 10, U.S.C., sections 154 and 601: to be 
General.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 1:30 
p.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their 
designees.
  The Senator from Texas.


                      Tribute to Shea Woodard Hall

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I rise today to give tribute to a great 
American, a great Texan, a dear friend, and a 26-year veteran of this 
institution who has dedicated her career to serving the needs of her 
fellow citizens. Her name is Shea Woodard Hall. Shea has worked as the 
West Texas regional director on my team for 7 years. She is now 
retiring. Shea started working in the Senate in 1993, when she was 
hired by my predecessor, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson.
  As West Texas regional director, Shea started with 89 counties in her 
region. By land area, that is bigger than some States. She could leave 
her office in Abilene, drive 7 hours north, and still be in her region. 
That is how much territory she was responsible for.
  Shea has always been willing to go the extra mile, literally. In her 
first 3 years working in the Senate, Shea put 75,000 miles on her car. 
In fact, she has put so many miles on her vehicles throughout the last 
26 years that it is probably for the best that she married a local car 
dealer in Abilene.
  After 26 years serving 89 counties in West Texas, everyone knows 
Shea, and Shea knows everyone. From every mayor, to every county judge 
and sheriff, to every State elected official, Shea made it a point to 
know them all. In fact, when I traveled with Shea in West Texas, we 
would arrive at an event, and there was no doubt who folks were happy 
to see--me or Shea, and it sure wasn't me.
  Shea is also known in West Texas for her rural tours. They are 
legendary. You see, Shea's region is diverse. It spans from Amarillo, 
to Lubbock, to Abilene, to San Angelo, to Big Spring, to Midland-
Odessa.
  On the last tour she planned, an ag tour, we started in Lubbock, with 
stops in Muleshoe, Fredonia, Dalhart, and Amarillo. If you know Texas, 
that is one heck of a big loop. On one of the stops, I asked Shea what 
we would be seeing that day, and she answered: ``Strippers.'' I was 
fairly puzzled with

[[Page S5724]]

that response, and she quickly clarified: ``Cotton strippers.'' I was 
relieved.
  There are too many stories of Shea helping people in West Texas, but 
one of my favorite stories is about how Shea helped to bring the B-1 
bomber to Texas. When the city of Abilene and Dyess Air Force Base were 
working to secure low-level training routes for the B-1 bomber, Shea 
received some questions and some concerns from local ranchers who were 
afraid that the noise would upset their cattle. Always the steady hand, 
Shea responded with some West Texas wisdom. She would tell them that 
the low-level training routes were good for our national security; that 
they would enhance Dyess Air Force Base as the premier B-1 base in the 
country; and finally, she would tell them that she hadn't received a 
single phone call from a cow protesting the noise. I am proud to say 
that because of her efforts and many others, those training routes 
remain, and today Texas is one of the homes of the B-1 bomber.
  Shea has become a living legend in West Texas because no problem is 
too big and no problem is too small. She wants to help anyone and 
everyone who calls her with an issue. She often helps people in 
stressful situations, navigating the leviathan of Big Government on 
behalf of fellow Texans in their time of need. Shea also doesn't take 
no for an answer. If she didn't get the answer she needed to help a 
fellow Texan, she didn't give up.
  She has been a tireless and effective member of our team. That is her 
legacy, and I know it will endure.
  Shea is retiring next month. While we will miss her greatly, she will 
remain a friend, and she will remain family. We wish her well as she 
begins her well-earned retirement. The Senate, the people of Texas, and 
the thousands of people and families whom she has helped over the 
course of 26 years of service will miss her too.
  Thank you, Shea, for your work, your determination, your passion, 
your patriotism, and your love for Texas. Texas says thank you.
  God bless you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                      Nomination of Eugene Scalia

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to speak on the nomination, which 
will occur before the Senate shortly, of Eugene Scalia as Secretary of 
Labor.
  I think it is important to say that as President Trump continues 
relentlessly pursuing his anti-worker agenda, now, more than ever, we 
need a Secretary of Labor who will stand up to the President and stand 
with working families, not someone like Scalia, who is an elite 
corporate lawyer, who has made his career fighting for the biggest 
corporations and against workers. We need someone who will fight for 
strong health and safety protections, not someone who has crusaded to 
strike them down. We need someone who will hold companies accountable, 
not someone who used his last position in the Department of Labor to 
undermine whistleblower protections and fought to get his corporate 
clients off the hook for workplace harassment and discrimination 
against workers with disabilities.
  We need someone who will fight for workers' economic security, not 
someone who helped companies get away with stealing their workers' 
wages and denying overtime pay. We don't need someone who avoids 
committing to support our efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an 
hour and close the pay gap and, certainly, not someone who costs 
working families billions of dollars by fighting to strike down a 
crucial rule that made sure they could get retirement advice that was 
in their best interest.
  We need a Secretary of Labor, not a secretary of corporate interests. 
Yet at our confirmation hearing last week, Scalia made very clear that 
is exactly what he would be by dodging taking a stand for workers and 
deferring to President Trump's anti-worker agenda.
  I have been deeply concerned about his awful record since day one. I 
strongly oppose his nomination. I urge my colleagues to do the same. 
Everyone needs to take a long, hard look at who Mr. Scalia fights for 
and who he does not and think carefully about the message their vote 
will send to working families in our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I have 
seen 2\1/2\ years of a betrayal of American workers from this White 
House, this government, this Senate, and the President of the United 
States. The White House looks like a retreat for Wall Street 
executives, except on the days it looks like a retreat for insurance 
executives, except for the days it looks like a retreat for drug 
company executives.
  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but a few weeks ago, when we saw 
the nomination of Eugene Scalia to be Secretary of Labor, it just 
underscored again the betrayal of American workers by this government 
and by this President.
  Eugene Scalia is the President's nominee to serve as Secretary of 
Labor. His job as Secretary of Labor is to represent workers, to 
advocate for workers, and to fight for workers--not to advocate for 
corporations, not to sell out to special interests, but to side with 
American workers. Yet all you have to do is look at his job. The 
President has sent us a corporate lawyer who has fought over and over 
to stop workplace protections, to undermine worker safety, and to cut 
and depress workers' wages over and over again.
  Mr. Scalia, as an elitist, multimillion-dollar corporate lawyer, has 
repeatedly defended companies against whistleblowers. He defended 
Walmart against its workers. And he is nominated to be Secretary of 
Labor?
  He defended a corporation against 30 women who had been sexually 
harassed at assembly plants. And he is going to be the Secretary of 
Labor?
  He defended other corporations against workers with disabilities 
after the companies violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. And 
he is going to be Secretary of Labor?
  Over and over, he fought to help the most powerful corporations 
against workers, asking the courts to put their thumb on the scales of 
justice, to choose corporations over workers, to choose Wall Street 
over consumers, and to choose health insurance companies over patients. 
He has always come down on the side of corporate interests, of special 
interests, and in the end, always betrayed workers. And he is the 
President's nominee to be Secretary of Labor?
  He has defended union-busting corporations. Boeing has been rabid in 
its anti-union coercion. Scalia worked for them, advocated for them in 
their never-ending quest to stop workers from having a voice in their 
company. And he is going to be the President's Secretary of Labor?
  What Mr. Scalia doesn't understand and what President Trump doesn't 
understand is that you can't say--let me back up for a second. The 
President loves to say that he supports this, that he is for workers, 
that workers are his friends, and that he is a friend to workers. He 
loves saying that, but what he doesn't understand is that you can't 
support workers individually without supporting workers collectively. 
You can't support workers individually without supporting workers 
collectively. You can't support workers if you attack unions.
  We know what unions have brought to this country. Ever since the 
generally rapid decline of trade unionism, we have seen wages flatten, 
we have seen benefits cut, and we have seen retirements taken away from 
workers. You know, when people can organize and bargain collectively, 
they have higher wages, they have better healthcare, and they have a 
retirement system.
  You can't support workers if you attack unions like Mr. Scalia has 
done. We need a Secretary of Labor who will actually fight for labor. 
It is not called the secretary of corporate interests or the secretary 
of special interests; it is called the Secretary of Labor. You are 
supposed to honor work and respect work. We need a Secretary of Labor 
who will fight for labor, not fight for corporate interests.
  It comes down to whose side you are on. Are you on the corporations' 
side, or are you on American workers' side? Do you fight for Wall 
Street wealth, or do you fight for the dignity of work?

[[Page S5725]]

The President promised to fight for American workers. If you love your 
country, you fight for workers. Instead, this President has betrayed 
them over and over again. The nomination of Eugene Scalia to be 
Secretary of Labor is the biggest betrayal of them all.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.


                  Nomination of General John E. Hyten

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, Gen. John Hyten is before the Senate today 
to be confirmed. We are anxious to get to this. It has been a long time 
in the working. It is going to happen, and I am very thankful, not just 
for the sake of General Hyten but for other officers and junior 
officers who are looking at a future, knowing some of the problems that 
exist out there.
  I have stood in this very spot and talked about exactly what our 
Nation is dealing with when it comes to our national security. The 
world is more dangerous now than it has ever been in my lifetime. China 
and Russia are building their capabilities as we have fallen behind.
  Our national defense strategy lays it all out. We have a document 
that we use. This is our blueprint. It is one that was put together by 
Democrats and Republicans some time ago, and we have adhered to it. As 
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I have adhered to it 
and will continue to do that.
  As the Department of Defense and the administration implement the 
national defense strategy and the recommendations of the NDS 
Commission, we need confirmed leadership at the Joint Chiefs to provide 
the military perspective. We need strong, innovative leadership, 
someone who understands strategy, competition, new warfighting domains 
like space, and the importance of a strong nuclear deterrent. We need 
strategic guidance born from years of firsthand experience.
  To me, there is no doubt that General Hyten is the right man for the 
second highest ranking military office. Throughout his service, General 
Hyten has developed a reputation of discipline, integrity, and honor. 
For the past 2\1/2\ years, he has led STRATCOM, where he has 
demonstrated shrewd and decisive understanding of our national security 
objectives.
  Before that, he served honorably in top leadership positions at Air 
Force Space Command. He has willingly and selflessly served this Nation 
in uniform for nearly four decades. I am confident he is going to keep 
us on a path to rebuild our military advantage and protect our civilian 
military relations in all this.
  The Senate considered his nomination yesterday on a 20-to-7 vote to 
advance General Hyten's nomination, and here we are today making this 
final decision. This came after a fair, exhaustive, bipartisan process, 
where we closely reviewed his nomination, including allegations against 
him. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations ran a tight and 
thorough investigation.
  Now, in all my years I have been here, I have never seen one of those 
more exhaustive than this one. It went on and on and on, and all the 
members of the committee were able to read every document that is out 
there. I am very proud of the committee for taking the deliberate time 
to make this happen. The committee held five executive sessions, 
studied thousands of pages of investigative records, and reviewed 
statements from more than 50 witnesses. Every member had the 
opportunity to ask questions and to read all the documents. We did it.
  The Armed Services Committee made available all the information to 
make sure there was nothing that was overlooked. The Armed Services 
Committee takes allegations of sexual assault very seriously, and it 
has for many years. It is a problem. It is a problem we are addressing 
on a regular basis. We are on it, and we are going to resolve it.
  We went through a period of time in the last administration when the 
military was taken down in a manner that has never happened before. It 
was unprecedented. We actually went, in the last 5 years of the Obama 
administration, to cutting the military by 25 percent. It has never 
happened before. Now we are going through a rebuilding process. I 
applaud this President for all he is doing in rebuilding our military. 
I am proud of him, and that is where we are right now.
  Through the NDAA and stringent oversight of the Department's efforts 
to this end, we are putting a stop to any kind of misconduct that we 
have been talking about. We can't stop a nomination from going forward 
on unproven allegations, especially ones we examined with the utmost of 
care and closest scrutiny and determined not to have merit.
  So we are about to do this--about to get this position confirmed. It 
is overdue. I urge my colleagues to support this nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Hyten 
nomination?
  Mr. INHOFE. 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from 
Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 75, nays 22, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 312 Ex.]

                                YEAS--75

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Carper
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--22

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Casey
     Duckworth
     Ernst
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hirono
     Klobuchar
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murray
     Peters
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Booker
     Sanders
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.

                          ____________________