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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. I urge my colleagues to resist any attempt to remove this provision during floor consideration. Do not open the spigot of Federal dollars to this predatory industry. They have syphoned off enough money and ruined enough lives of students as it is. We shouldn't perpetuate this terrible fraud.
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Mr. DURBIN. Let me say to my colleague from Florida, I like your resolution, and I really think it speaks to the sentiment shared by the vast majority--maybe even all of the U.S. Senators.

I am not certain how to pronounce this young lady's name--Peng Shuai.

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Mr. DURBIN. Peng Shuai. Well, I will accept you as my Mandarin coach and refer to her as Peng Shuai.

It is outrageous. She reports sexual abuse by a high-ranking official and then she disappears and they feed us occasional videotapes.

Well, I want to join you in commending the Women's Tennis Association, and I also want to add that I think the President was correct in not only saying that we were going to withhold any diplomats being sent over to China during the next round of the Olympic Games, but I understand the administration is reaching out to other countries to join us.

Whether it is the Uighers or whether it is Ms. Peng Shuai, outrageous human rights abuses should not be ignored. And as I glance at your resolution here, it looks like you hit the nail on the head.

Here is something that I think would be helpful in the cause of human rights. What if the United States of America actually had an Ambassador in China?

Think about that possibility. We would have someone representing our country on the scene in Beijing working for the United States, speaking up for human rights.

Well, what is holding us back? Why won't Biden nominate somebody for this job?

Well, it turns out he did, a man named Nicholas Burns.

Well, we all know him. He has a long record of diplomacy in Foreign Service--service in Russia and other places. He is a key man in the State Department and one that we can rely on. And he should be in Beijing fighting for the causes that you and I agree on today.

What can possibly be holding him up? We need him there.

Well, it turns out he is being held up by that side of the aisle objecting to his being called.

Well, we have a chance to resolve that today. We can pass not only your resolution, but we can appoint Mr. Burns as the Ambassador to China and get it done and he could be on a plane in the morning.

How about that? That would be an amazing thing to accomplish. You take that home to Florida, and I will take that home to Illinois. It is a good day's work.

And so, to reach that end, I ask that the pending request be modified as follows: Notwithstanding rule XXII, the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following nomination: Calendar No. 525, R. Nicholas Burns, of Massachusetts, to be Ambassador of the United States of America to People's Republic of China; that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and then, as if in legislative session, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of your resolution, S. Res. 474, submitted earlier today; that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table without intervening action or debate.

What an amazing bipartisan achievement that we can put together in just a few minutes here.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, time is wasting. We need an Ambassador to China.

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