Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. RISCH. I ask for up to 5 minutes, equally divided for myself and Senator Cardin, prior to the rollcall vote.

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Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the nomination of Margaret Taylor to be Legal Adviser of the Department of State.

While serving as general counsel at USAID, some USAID contractors and partners repeatedly promoted abortion overseas in violation of clear U.S. law. The legal office is responsible for interpreting how, when, and where U.S. laws are applied across the full range of U.S. diplomatic engagement and foreign assistance programs.

Given her negligence in applying longstanding, clear-cut laws restricting abortion advocacy at USAID and the lack of enforcement, I have zero confidence in her willingness and ability to manage this enormous responsibility at the Department of State.

In addition to these concerns, I have an even additional reason for that, and that is the fact that the State Department refuses to share the information about Rob Malley's suspended security clearance. Mr. Malley was U.S. Special Envoy to Iran and was engaged in back-channel talks with the regime. Last April, his security clearance was suspended without explanation.

For over a year now, I and Democrats have asked for information on the suspension: Can the Department confirm Mr. Malley mishandled classified information by storing secret documents in his personal email? Did he send this information to anyone before he was allegedly hacked and information was stolen? Why hasn't the Department of Justice charged him?

I get no answers to these; neither do the Democrats. The State Department admits they have this information but refuses to give it to us.

In light of all of the above, I cannot support and will not vote for Ms. Taylor's nomination and encourage my colleagues to do likewise.

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