Authorizing Representation By the Senate Legal Counsel in the Case of Desmond Bellard V. Ronald Wyden, U.S. Senator
Floor Speech
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I seek recognition to make a unanimous consent request.
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, actually, I am going to ask unanimous consent that we go ahead and confirm General Caine as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but I must say that I do so with mixed feelings.
On the one hand, we need a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff immediately, and there is overwhelming support on the Democratic side and Republican side for this nomination.
On the other hand, passage of this confirmation would pretty much end our week, and that would prevent us from getting a lot of work done later on this afternoon and into tonight and tomorrow if we have to stay until tomorrow to confirm this very important officer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
So, in a way, we can have it either way, but, frankly, to stay here and get some Congressional Review Act resolutions done so that we can end a number of the pernicious regulations foisted off on the American people and on our economy by the Biden administration--that has a lot of appeal also.
75 and 74, making Gen. John Caine Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, ripen at 3 p.m. today.
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I may have other unanimous consent requests, but if I could be heard on this matter for another moment, I would seek recognition for that purpose.
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I am happy to yield to my friend from Alaska, who has now vacated the floor. I thought we had this more synchronized.
But let me say this: There was a vote earlier this week in the Armed Services Committee. It passed the Armed Services Committee with overwhelming Democrat and Republican support--23 yeses and only 4 noes. So there is really no reason to delay this any longer.
Frankly, there is so much going on around the world with the four powers that constitute an axis of aggression to the United States that we really should give the President the choice that has been endorsed overwhelmingly by a bipartisan majority of the Armed Services Committee.
With that, having communicated better now with my dear colleague from Alaska, I would yield to the junior Senator from the State of Alaska.
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I wonder if I could reclaim my time to ask my distinguished friend from Alaska a question.
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, yes, that is correct.
I would then ask my distinguished friend from Alaska: Isn't it a fact that General Caine time and again has demonstrated his aptitude and leadership abilities while actually deployed in combat zones, leading servicemembers in Iraq and Syria, and while serving in various Special Operations forces units and also in the intelligence community and that he ran some of our most secretive programs for the security of Americans?
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Mr. WICKER. If the gentleman would further yield?
I just wondered if the gentleman would yield to the distinguished minority leader to ascertain how this matter is going to be resolved differently if we wait until tomorrow. The gentleman has the floor. Perhaps he would do so.
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, just for the information of Senators, as the unanimous consent request has been objected to, and we are not allowed to vote at this point to give the President of the United States a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I just wanted to inform the Senate, based on conversations with the majority leader and his staff, that there are two matters that we can and will proceed to later on this afternoon and perhaps into the night.
The first would be the House version of Senator Scott of South Carolina's Congressional Review Act resolution, H.J. Res. 61, providing for congressional disapproval under section 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rules submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to ``National Emission Standards For Hazardous Air Pollutants: Rubber Tire Manufacturing.''
That is one matter that the objection has given us an opportunity to proceed to.
The other would be Senator Curtis's Congressional Review Act, S.J. Res. 31, a joint resolution providing for the Congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to ``Review of the Final Rule Reclassification of Major Sources As Area Sources Under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act.''
As I said, during my unanimous consent request, proceeding to the vote on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would give the President the advice and counsel that our Commander in Chief needs during a very dangerous time.
That said, I made the unanimous consent request with mixed feelings because, frankly, there are two regulations--pernicious, onerous, needless regulations--by the Environmental Protection Agency that need to be wiped off the books.
So this will give us an opportunity to do that. It is 10 after 3 at this point, and I am not sure when the distinguished majority leader will schedule that, but Members should be advised that unless we are able to get a unanimous consent request and give the President his choice for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, those are items that can still be the order of the day, and perhaps there are other votes tomorrow.
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