Nominations

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, the Senate continues to build on last week's progress in restoring our normal tradition regarding lower level nominations. We are moving several well-qualified nominees more promptly through floor consideration. We are clearing the considerable backlog of those who had been mired for months in our Democratic colleagues' across-the-board obstruction campaign.

Make no mistake, there is still a very long way to go. There are still too many vacancies on the President's team. There are still too many would-be public servants waiting for partisan barriers to fall. But this body should be proud of the progress we are already making and the healthier precedent we are setting for the future.

Yesterday the Senate voted to confirm both Daniel Domenico, the President's choice to serve as U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado, and Patrick Wyrick to be a district judge in the Western District of Oklahoma.

Today we will turn our attention to Cheryl Stanton's nomination to lead the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division. It has been 1 year, 7 months, and 5 days since Ms. Stanton's nomination arrived in the Senate. In that time the nomination has been favorably reported by the HELP Committee not once, not twice, but three times--three times through committee for this graduate of Williams College and the University of Chicago Law School and two times sent back to the President for the former executive director of the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. Well, hopefully the third time will be the charm, and we can finally do the prudent thing on the Senate floor. I hope each of my colleagues will join me in support of the Stanton nomination later this week.

Later this week, as I noted yesterday, we will finish with the nomination of David Bernhardt to join President Trump's Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. Speaking of procedures coming in threes, this would be the third time Mr. Bernhardt will have been confirmed by the Senate. He served previously as the Department's Solicitor and as its Deputy Secretary. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, his ``proven leadership'' in these roles ``has helped restore the multiple use of America's public lands.''

They are not alone. Over his tenure, Mr. Bernhardt developed a reputation among sportsmen, conservation groups, and western Native American Tribes as a strong leader and partner in their efforts. So once again, I hope each of my colleagues will join me in voting to confirm David Bernhardt later this week.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source