Nominations
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I am sorry that the Senator from Iowa, who spoke before me, left the floor before I could get his attention.
Senator Grassley is my friend. We have served together for many years. We have worked on a lot of things together, and I bet we will in the future. I like working with him. He shoots from the hip and tells you exactly what he thinks. He has--I know this sounds a little vain--a midwestern approach to him that I like a lot.
He just gave us a little reminder here about the difficulties that faced some of the Trump nominees on the floor of the U.S. Senate. I remember that. There were some that were delayed because of very basic things. They had not filed their financial disclosure forms and the ethics reports, which were expected of all Cabinet nominees.
I don't expect President-Elect Biden to cut any corners. I expect his nominees to follow the rules and the law, and I am hoping that they will have bipartisan support when it comes to the Senate. I want to give this President a chance to get off to a good, solid start, and he is going to need it.
We are in the midst of this pandemic. The numbers that roll in every single day are frightening. Even in my home State of Illinois, where Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot and so many others have worked hard to establish standards of conduct that will keep people safe, we know that the numbers are just unacceptable in terms of infections and hospitalizations and, sadly, deaths as well. Over 300,000 Americans have died.
We want to make sure that President Biden and Vice President Harris have the team and the wherewithal and the resources to respond quickly when they take office on January 20.
I hope my Republican friends will join me in that effort. They have every right to expect these nominees to answer the very basic questions that are required, but I hope that they will also do their best to expedite that process so that those going into critical positions to keep our country safe from this pandemic are in place, as well as those who are going to serve our Nation in critical capacities, whether it is Secretary of State or Attorney General or Department of Homeland Security.
But I look forward to working with my friend from Iowa. I take heed of his warning that we will hold these nominees to the same standards as we held President Trump's nominees
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source