Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. LEE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I can't agree to move forward with this nominee today. I think this is really unfortunate. We could have avoided this. This could have been avoided altogether if the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would simply disclose the responses to the questions for records to Members directly. Then Senators could review the nominees more quickly.

Unfortunately, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has refused to do that, and so I have been forced to go to the State Department to get this information. I received those responses on Monday evening.

Just a few hours ago, I sent some additional questions to the nominee. They would have been easy to respond to. I still await those responses, and I expect that I will receive them soon. But until then, I can't do my job right. My advice and consent role can't adequately be performed without having the information.

I am not going to relinquish that duty to represent the people of Utah on all matters and not just on those matters as to which I enjoy a seat on a committee.

There is one type of Constitutional amendment that is preemptively unconstitutional. All Senators are equal; you can't treat them unequally. I deserve to have access to these answers, and they are not giving them to me. That is why we are here. That is why I can't agree to this tonight, and I am not going to do that. I am not going to be bullied into it. They need to share this information. I therefore object.

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