Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
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Mr. MURPHY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I am going to continue to propound these unanimous consent requests in the same form as the chairman of the Committee, but before I do, just a few brief remarks. I know the hour is late.
First of all, it is wonderful to hear this revisionist history about the Trump administration's disposition towards Russia. Everybody knows what was going on. This was an administration that was practically sycophantish towards the Russian regime, refused over and over again to stand up in any meaningful way.
That is why the pipeline got so far along. It was the eleventh hour when the Trump administration, at the very last minute, decided to move forward on sanctions.
We are not here to paint the merits of the Trump administration's decisionmaking on Russia policy. But suffice it to say, Russia did very well expanding its influence around the region during the 4 years that Donald Trump was in office.
Second, the effects of holding up all of these nominees is to kneecap American national security. Never, ever before has a President had so few nominees confirmed to key national security posts than this President. It has never happened before.
It is true that there is a history in this body of individual Senators placing a temporary hold on one or maybe two officials relevant to the policy over which they are having a disagreement with the administration. Probably many Members of this body have done that. But at least in the time that I have been here and from what I have heard, never before has an individual Senator held up this many nominees for key national security posts over a disagreement on one specific policy.
And if every single Senator did that--because every Senator here has a policy disagreement that they believe is significant with the Secretary of State, with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, with the Secretary of Defense--then the business of nominations and confirmations would grind to an absolute halt in this body.
I had deep disagreements with President Trump, but never did I endeavor to hold up every single nominee to State Department posts, because I came to the conclusion that that would do much, much more harm to American national security than whatever concession I might get from the administration would provide a benefit to American national security.
So I share this just, really, paralyzing fear that Senator Menendez expressed, that something awful is going to happen without the kind of personnel that every President needs on post to do the job. We could probably get by if this was a hold of one or two or three individuals. We are talking about dozens of key national security posts that are left vacant because of the decision of one Senator. Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar
Mr. President, I will continue to propound these requests. I imagine the decision will not be different.
I ask that it be in order to make the same request as those Senator Menendez was making with respect to Executive Calendar No. 327, Anne A. Witkowsky, to be Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations.
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Mr. MURPHY. Because American national security is gravely compromised by the inability of a President to have his national security team in place at a time of crisis, I would ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 328, Anne A. Witkowsky, to be Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, because every single day that the President doesn't have his team in place to protect this Nation, our Nation is under more serious threat.
I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Calendar No. 329, Mary Catherine Phee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the African Development Foundation, for a term expiring September 27, 2026.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, because China is absolutely celebrating every single day that our Corps of diplomats is dramatically and dangerously understaffed because of these holds on the President's nominees, I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 330, Mary Catherine Phee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service to be a Member of the Board of Directors to the African Development Foundation, for a term expiring September 27, 2021.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, similarly, because without an ability to have U.S. diplomats on posts, to have our most important leadership positions staffed, we make ourselves intentionally, deliberately unable to be able to manage crises across the world.
I would ask that it be in order to make the same requests with respect to Executive Calendar No. 331, Mary Catherine Phee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service to be Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I would ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 332, Lee Satterfield, to be an Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I would ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 333, Karen Erika Donfried, to be an Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs and Eurasian Affairs.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 334, Jessica Lewis, to be an Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 335, Donald Lu, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, to be Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 336, Paloma Adams-Allen, to be a Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to Executive Calendar No. 337, Isobel Coleman, to be a Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I am at the final unanimous consent request, and I will make it in a moment.
Just to note, as we are wrapping up here, this has taken a while, and this list of pending nominees is going to grow. It is going to get longer and longer. There are going to be more key posts that are going to go unfilled.
I understand Senator Cruz's desire to use his power to hold these nominees in order to get a change in policy from this administration. I doubt that the administration, which has already set a clear direction and has executed an agreement with the Germans, is going to abide.
My worry, though, is that this won't be the end, that this is not going to be the last foreign policy decision that the Senator from Texas or other Republican Senators will disagree with, nor will it likely be the last decision that any high-profile Cabinet member makes that finds disagreement from my Republican colleagues.
And so I end where I began, which is to say that Senator Cruz and I have a difference of opinion with respect to Nord Stream and the gravity of the moment that we find ourselves in. But this place just becomes unworkable if every single Senator holds up this many nominees over one particular policy disagreement.
This tactic will be utilized by Democrats when there is a Republican in the White House. It might not be me, because I find this objectionable, but it will be copied, and you will find the same thing happening to a Republican President and their administration grinding to a halt in whatever Department finds itself the object of this tactic.
So I continue to express this deep worry about what it means to not have individuals in place in Somalia overseeing the Western Hemisphere and to not have someone overseeing our counternarcotics operations, but this list will get longer and longer and longer, and the risk to American security will be greater.
Again, I will just suggest that the harm being done here to U.S. security is much greater than the benefit that the Senator believes will be gained through negotiation over these posts with the administration.
So, at the risk of inspiring another very long speech from the Senator from Texas, I make those remarks. Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar
Mr. President, I ask, finally, that it be in order to make the same request, as I have and Senator Menendez has, with respect to Executive Calendar No. 150, Brett Holmgren to be an Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research.
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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I understand the Senator believes he has such a serious objection to administration policy that it merits this exceptional tactic. I would submit, as I move into closing business, that it is not the biggest disagreement that a Senator has had with an administration. It is not the biggest disagreement that a group of Senators has had with an administration. To believe that would be to elevate this dispute beyond its merits. That is not to suggest it isn't significant, but it is not the most significant disagreement that an individual Senator has ever had with an administration.
What is exceptional is his tactic. Never before has a U.S. Senator used their power in this way to hold up this many nominees at such a critical moment. That is what is exceptional. That is what makes this moment so dangerous. That is why Senator Menendez and I came down to the floor to try to unlock some of these nominees toward confirmation, because it is the tactic, not the disagreement, that is the exception.
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