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Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the Justice Department needs a leader--a leader who has the qualifications, the experience, the determination, and the moral clarity to keep our Nation safe. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is that leader. She has my vote and my vocal support.

The Attorney General is America's top prosecutor. The role should be filled by an experienced prosecutor. Attorney General Bondi has prosecution experience--a lot of it. She spent almost 30 years as a criminal prosecutor and then a State attorney general. She has more trial experience than any modern-day U.S. attorney general. Attorney General Bondi is the most experienced career criminal prosecutor ever to be America's chief law enforcement officer. She is ready to lead on day one.

In Florida, Attorney General Bondi prosecuted a range of violent crimes and criminals. She locked up the worst of the worst for the worst offenses. Her signature achievements were in fighting illegal drugs and in fighting human trafficking.

When she first became Florida's attorney general in 2011, the State was overrun with things known as pill mills. They were operations that were running to sell opioids. Pam shut them down. She locked up the drug dealers. She pushed for stronger laws, and she stopped the spread of synthetic opioids. Under her leadership, Florida led the fight against this deadly epidemic.

Attorney General Bondi also protected victims of human trafficking in Florida. She pledged to make human trafficking an area for her to combat. It was a top priority at her justice department in Florida. She is a fierce advocate for safety, and she is a skilled leader.

The Department of Justice is a huge Agency. It controls 40 separate organizations. It employs more than 115,000 people. It oversees all 94 U.S. attorneys across the country. Leading the DOJ is an enormous undertaking. Pam Bondi is up to the challenge.

The Florida Attorney General's Office is one of the largest in the Nation. It handles a broad scope of civil and criminal investigations, just like the U.S. Department of Justice. She led that office effectively and efficiently, and she will do the same thing now as Attorney General.

She has received overwhelming support from all across the country. More than 100 former senior DOJ officials wrote a letter to the Judiciary Committee in support of Pam Bondi. Here is what they said about her track record: It shows ``the no-nonsense, law and order, pro- law enforcement approach she will bring to the Department of Justice.'' The Fraternal Order of Police also urged the Senate to confirm Pam Bondi. This is an organization of more than 377,000 members of law enforcement. She has also earned the support of Second Amendment advocates.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi will stand in stark contrast to the prior administration's Justice Department. The previous administration gave us two tiers of justice. It labeled parents as ``domestic terrorists'' when they attended school board meetings. It brought charges against pro-life protesters, then threw them in prison. It worked with leftwing judges and prosecutors to try to throw President Trump in jail. That is what we had in the last administration. This doesn't even begin to get into the Russiagate hoax or covering up for Hunter Biden. In those cases, we saw rogue Federal agents try to subvert the democratic process.

At her hearing before the Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Bondi promised a different path. Instead of playing politics, Pam Bondi pledged to enforce the law fairly, fully, and faithfully. She said in her opening statement that she will return the Department of Justice to its ``core mission of keeping Americans safe and vigorously''-- vigorously--``enforcing the law.''

Her commitment to the Constitution, to public safety, and equal justice under the law is exactly what our Nation needs today. The partisan, politicalized, and polarizing prosecutions are now over. Pam Bondi will usher in a new era of safety, of sanity, and of justice. She has my vote to be the U.S. Attorney General.

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