Nominations

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, while our Senate Democratic colleagues continue blocking this body from considering funding for our Armed Forces, the Senate has taken advantage of the time to confirm more of President Trump's well-qualified nominees for Federal service, as well as the judiciary.

Yesterday, we confirmed Chad Wolf to serve at the Department of Homeland Security. Following President Trump's decision to designate him Acting Secretary, he is now heading up the Department.

I want to take a moment to thank the outgoing Acting DHS Secretary, Kevin McAleenan. His tenure leading the Department of Homeland Security capped off a distinguished career in public service, including nearly two decades rising through the ranks of the Customs and Border Patrol.

His leadership at DHS saw significant progress in mitigating major aspects of our border security and humanitarian crisis, a strong focus on cyber security, and hard work to strengthen the Department all across the board. So I thank the outgoing Acting Secretary for his years in public service and, particularly, for his leadership in this recent chapter.

Now, today, we will vote on the confirmation of Steven Menashi to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Menashi won majority support on the Judiciary Committee on the basis of strong academic and legal qualifications--degrees from Dartmouth and Stanford, clerkships on the appellate level and the Supreme Court, and experience in both teaching and practicing law.

I would urge all of our colleagues to vote to confirm this impressive nominee this afternoon.

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