Nominations of Lisa Monaco and Vanita Gupta

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last week, my friend and colleague, the senior Senator from Texas, came to the floor to speak about two highly qualified nominees seeking senior positions in President Biden's Justice Department--Lisa Monaco and Vanita Gupta.

I was pleased to hear Senator Cornyn express support for Lisa Monaco. She is nominated to be the Deputy Attorney General. She has vast experience and deep ties to the Department. She has served in multiple roles as both a career employee and a Senate-confirmed official. She is also someone who has predicted and responded to several of the greatest threats of our time, including global pandemics and the rise of domestic terrorism. She has what it takes to serve as the No. 2 person in the Department of Justice and along with the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, to restore independence and integrity in that Department.

Unfortunately, my friend from Texas went on to take a different view when it came to Vanita Gupta, who has been nominated to be an Associate Attorney General, the No. 3 position at the Department. Every Senator, of course, has the right to oppose any nominee, even though many of my colleagues across the aisle have spoken about the importance of deferring to President Biden and his choices to lead his Cabinet.

But when opposition turns from beyond just feeling negative toward someone to stating things about that person that may not be altogether accurate, I feel obligated to come to the floor and correct the record. I would like to address a few of the false attacks that are being leveled against Ms. Gupta.

She unequivocally stated in her testimony under oath before the Judiciary Committee last week that she opposes defunding the police. Any suggestion to the contrary is patently false. We have seen statement after statement from law enforcement organizations that support Vanita Gupta and her nomination. They admitted plainly that they know she doesn't call for defunding the police.

Yet we also continue to see statement after statement from Republican Senators and many of their allies buying television ads claiming the contrary. Ask yourself this basic question: If Vanita Gupta wants to defund the police, how would she get the support and endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, National Sheriffs' Association, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and others? I think we know the answer. She doesn't want to defund the police. It is simply something that is said about her that is not true.

But what Ms. Gupta has called for and what she reiterated before the Committee on the Judiciary last week is making sure that police officers, the men and women who put themselves in harm's way every day, are not called upon to be mental health counselors. Some may have that skill, but most are not trained in that field, and it is not why they signed up for the job.

As Ms. Gupta explained at her hearing, we have spent far too long laying too many of our Nation's social problems at the feet of police-- no matter what goes wrong in the neighborhood, on the street, in the household--call 9-1-1. From homelessness to mental health issues to substance abuse disorders, they all fall on the laps of our law enforcement officials. This is something that police officers, police chiefs, county sheriffs, and civil rights advocates agree on, finding the right person can be critical in an intervention.

Ms. Gupta is a consensus builder, and the consensus from law enforcement is this: Confirm Vanita Gupta.

My friend from Texas also suggested there was something amiss in Ms. Gupta's response to his question on whether she supported decriminalizing drugs. He asked her this at the hearing: ``Is it true that you advocate decriminalization of all drugs?'' Ms. Gupta, under oath, responded: ``No, Senator, I do not.''

My friend from Texas suggested this answer was misleading, given that Ms. Gupta wrote 9 years ago that she would support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs.

There was nothing misleading about her response. The question was posed in the present tense. It was not limited to decriminalizing possession. More importantly, as she eloquently explained at the hearing, Ms. Gupta's position on decriminalizing drug possession had changed due to her family's own experience with opioid addiction. She did something that far too few people in Washington are willing to do. She acknowledged that she had changed her mind.

I have done that, too, as an elected official. Sometimes people call me on it, and, luckily, I can turn to a good source for rebuttal. You see, Abraham Lincoln spent many years in politics, and he was once accused of changing his mind on an issue, and he replied: Yes, it is true, I changed my position on that issue, but I would rather be right some of the time than wrong all the time. That is the way I feel about being honest if you change your mind based on new information, new experience, or thinking it through from a different angle.

My friend from Texas also suggested that Ms. Gupta somehow wanted to follow her own personal convictions rather than the law. That is not true. Ms. Gupta is a Justice Department veteran. She spent 3 years leading the Civil Rights Division. She enforced the law regardless of her personal views, and she will do the same as Associate Attorney General.

Senator Cornyn suggested that Ms. Gupta harbors personal views that are hostile to police. I won't recount again all the police organizations that have endorsed her. But he omits the fact that she has already served in the Justice Department. And what was the verdict on her time in the Department? These police groups believe in her. They like her approach. They think she is fair. They have endorsed her. I hope my friends on the Republican side of the aisle will acknowledge that.

Unlike the prior administration, President Biden has nominated senior Justice Department leaders who are driven by fidelity to the rule of law. They understand their role at the Department as officials who enforce the law, and they will do so. Ms. Gupta is no exception.

Next week, we will vote on Ms. Gupta's nomination in committee. She has broad bipartisan support across the Nation--law enforcement, Justice Department officials of both parties, civil rights groups, even some of the most conservative Republican advocates, they back Ms. Gupta. She deserves that same bipartisan support here in the Senate.

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