Volume 165, No. 114 covering the 1st Session of the 116th Congress (2019 - 2020) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“NOMINATIONS” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S4705 on July 9, 2019.
More than half of the Agency's employees are engineers, scientists and protection specialists. The Climate Reality Project, a global climate activist organization, accused Agency leadership in the last five years of undermining its main mission.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NOMINATIONS
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, the Senate has continued to make headway in the personnel business. This week, we are confirming a number of President Trump's thoroughly qualified nominees to important vacancies in the Federal courts and in the administration.
As I have said, it is unfortunate for this institution that our Democratic colleagues have made it their routine practice to require not just rollcall votes but cloture votes as well on noncontroversial nominees for lower profile positions--regular cloture votes on district judges, cloture votes on Assistant Secretaries, and, later this week, a cloture vote on an Assistant EPA Administrator.
These are the sorts of important but lower profile positions the Senate used to quickly process on a voice vote. When these sorts of people were qualified, they were voice-voted by Senates of both parties for Presidents of both parties. That was the norm.
New partisan hurdles will not deter the Senate from doing our job. We will continue to spend the time it takes to put impressive, impartial men and women on the Federal judiciary and give the President--more than 2 years into his administration--finally, more of his team in place in the executive branch.
Yesterday afternoon, we voted to advance the nomination of Daniel Bress to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Bress comes with strong credentials, the academic pedigree, the legal experience, and, most importantly, a demonstrated commitment to the rule of law.
I am glad we voted to advance his nomination yesterday, and I urge our colleagues to confirm him later today.
Next, we will consider three district court nominees: T. Kent Wetherell to the Northern District of Florida, Damon Leichty to the Northern District of Indiana, and Nicholas Ranjan to the Western District of Pennsylvania.
After them, we will confirm several nominees to serve in the administration: Robert King to be Assistant Secretary of Education, John Pallasch to be Assistant Secretary of Labor, and Peter Wright to be Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
In each of these cases, the President has presented us with thoroughly well-qualified individuals to serve the Nation in these very important roles. This week, the Senate will give them the straightforward consideration and confirmations they deserve.
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