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Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for someone who campaigned as a moderate and promised to unify our country, President Biden has chosen to staff his administration with a roster--a roster--of alarmingly radical or unqualified personnel.
In recent weeks, the President's nominees who have made the biggest headlines have been the ones so far outside the mainstream that even a Democratic Senate majority would not confirm them, like the appeals court nominee who defended a school against a teenage victim of sexual assault or the traffic safety nominee whose real passion turned out to be extreme environmental regulations. This week, the Senate is considering yet another slate of radical nominations that are entirely unworthy of confirmation.
First, is the nomination of David Crane, a self-described ``climate activist.'' President Biden would like him to serve as Undersecretary for Infrastructure at the Department of Energy.
Mr. Crane's nomination is bad news for Kentucky, for coal country, and for any American who enjoys making their own choices about which cars to drive, which products to consume, and how to earn a living.
This nominee has been outspoken about his so-called ``green dream'' to force a massive chunk of the world's economy to go carbon free in 8 years--8 years--and then use their influence to ``compel society'' to follow suit.
He even observed that Democratic Presidential nominees hadn't made extreme climate policy enough of a priority in their campaigns. In other words, Hillary Clinton, who once bragged that ``we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,'' was not radical enough--not radical enough--for David Crane. So we are talking about an unabashed, top-down social planner. As we have learned over the past 2 years, that is exactly what the Biden administration ordered when it handed the keys to the American energy policy to the radical left.
Unfortunately, Mr. Crane is not the only nominee on this week's agenda with a reputation for wearing his radical liberal sympathies on his sleeve. The Senate will also vote on the nomination of David Ho to serve on the Federal bench in the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Ho has described himself--listen to this--as a ``wild-eyed leftist.'' Let me say that again. President Biden would like a self- identified ``wild-eyed leftist'' to rule on cases in the largest Federal court in the country.
Mr. Ho's legal record indicates that this radical sympathy runs very deep. This is a nominee who has publicly lamented ``originalism is not a method of constitutional interpretation that can reliably lend itself to progressive outcomes.'' Imagine that. It turns out that actually following and applying our laws and our Constitution as they were written is not a one-way ticket to leftwing utopia.
And, by the way, that should be an argument for the radical left sidelining their bad ideas, not an argument for sidelining the Constitution. Somebody who wants a lifetime appointment as an impartial judge must be committed to putting the rule of law ahead of personal views, not the other way around.
Ah, but Mr. Ho hasn't limited his public criticism to the basic legal principles that underpin the Federal judiciary. During the Obama administration, he railed against the Fraternal Order of Police for expressing their concerns about a particularly anti-cop Justice Department nominee. He called the FOP's opposition a ``disgrace.''
He has also taken to attacking members of the Judiciary Committee on Twitter. And throughout his career, Mr. Ho has been outspoken-- outspoken--in denigrating basic mainstream efforts to ensure the integrity of American elections. He has likened overwhelmingly popular practices like voter ID requirements to be ``a very thinly veiled call for racial profiling.''
Let me be absolutely clear: Senate Republicans will not participate in rubberstamping radical nominees. I would urge our colleagues to join me in rejecting each of these unfit nominations this week.
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