Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise in support of the nomination of John Fleming to serve as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development.

The Assistant Secretary serves as the Administrator of the Economic Development Administration, the EDA. It is the only Federal Agency focused exclusively on economic development. It works directly with communities in regions to help them build capacity for economic development based on local business conditions as well as needs.

As a physician, entrepreneur, businessman, military veteran, and four-term Member of Congress, Dr. Fleming is incredibly well qualified to lead the EDA. Dr. Fleming has launched several companies, which today employ over 500 people in Louisiana. Dr. Fleming's nomination has drawn praise from numerous political, educational, and economic development leaders in his home State of Louisiana.

Don Pierson, the Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, wrote:

Dr. Fleming has been instrumental in the development and execution of projects, which have taken root in Northwest Louisiana and spread across the United States.

He goes on to say:

His experience in public policy, business and his military background serve as the right attributes for leading economic development efforts.

The Environment and Public Works Committee reported Dr. Fleming's nomination favorably to the Senate with a substantial bipartisan majority, and we have done it twice, first on October 1, 2018, during the 115th Congress, and then next on February 5 of this year, after he was renominated this Congress. Under normal circumstances, Dr. Fleming would have been confirmed and in office last fall. Instead, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have blocked his nomination ever since it was first placed on the Senate Executive Calendar more than 155 days ago. Now, we had to file cloture and go through repeated delays on a well-qualified nominee who was twice reported by a substantial majority of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Dr. Fleming's treatment by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle is similar to the obstruction of John Ryder, whom we finally confirmed last week to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority. He had waited an unconscionable 388 days for a vote on the Senate floor.

In a column last Friday, the Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel noted that 388 days is ``100 days longer than it takes a new human being to come into the world.'' She continued:

Even at the last, Democrats were stringing out the process, refusing unanimous consent to a floor vote, requiring Republicans to file for cloture, which entails more delay.

Then she points out that ``after all that, [Mr. Ryder] was confirmed--by a voice vote with no audible dissent.''

Let's not delay any longer. Let's stop this spectacle of obstructing well-qualified nominees solely for obstruction's sake. I urge my colleagues to vote with me in support of the nomination of John Fleming to serve as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development and Administrator of the EDA.

Thank you.

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