00:00Quorum call please. Without objection. Thank you. Mr. President, here shortly I will ask unanimous
00:06consent to vote on the nominations of Jess Kramer to be the Assistant Administrator of the Office
00:12of Water and at the Environmental and Protection Agency and Mr. Sean McMaster to be the Administrator
00:19of the Federal Highway Administration. But first I must speak on the historic delay and obstruction
00:25that my Democrat colleagues have put towards President Trump's nominees. So far this Congress,
00:31Democrats have not let one single civilian nominee pass by unanimous consent or by voice vote.
00:39By this point in the Biden presidency, 76 civilian nominees had been confirmed by voice vote
00:46or unanimous consent. This is truly unprecedented moment in this chamber's history. For years,
00:54we have operated under courtesy and precedent to move swiftly to a portion of the President's
01:00nominees who have bipartisan support. For example, 90 percent of President Obama and President George
01:07W. Bush's civilian nominees were passed by voice vote or unanimous consent. And even in President
01:15Trump's first administration and the Biden administration, more than half of their civilian
01:21nominees were confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent. Now, though, we have blanket obstruction
01:28regardless of the qualifications or bipartisan support some nominees have. So as a result,
01:36President Trump's second term civilian nominees have been subdued to 120 cloture votes. Well,
01:42if somebody watching from West Virginia might not know what that means, that means obstruction,
01:47time delay, and inability to get nominees through. That's 29 percent more than the total of all the
01:53cloture votes for nominees in the first 200 days of the Obama, Trump, and Biden administration combined.
02:02So patricial hurdles have led to these nominees averaging 94 days between nomination and confirmation
02:09in the first 200 days of President Trump's second term. That's 24 days longer than President Biden's nominees,
02:1840 days longer than the nominees in President Trump's first term, and 53 days longer than President Obama's first term nominees.
02:29Regardless of the reason for obstruction, our Democrat colleagues have been refusing to replace well-qualified nominees
02:37and agencies where they can be responsive to all in Congress. And help administer programs with congressional oversight
02:43and accountability is short-sighted and counterproductive.
02:47So, I would like to take a moment and speak about two well-qualified nominees I mentioned that have passed out of my EPW committee
02:55with bipartisan support, but have been waiting for months, literally, for consideration on the Senate floor because of dilatory tactics.
03:05First is Jess Cramer. She's the nominee for the Office of Water for the Environmental Protection Agency.
03:15Jess has 13 years of experience advocating for clean water at both the state and federal level, as well as in the private sector,
03:24and is exceptionally qualified to lead EPA's Office of Water.
03:29Jess was voted out of the EPW committee with a bipartisan vote of 15 to 4 in April.
03:35That was 148 days ago.
03:39She has built a career crafting practical bipartisan solutions to improve water policy and ensure the communities have access
03:49to safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
03:53During Jess's time working for me on my EPW committee staff, she played a role in shaping the water provisions in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
04:05Securing historic investments to modernize drinking water and wastewater systems, remove lead service lines, and to address emerging contaminants.
04:15Beyond her experience on Capitol Hill, she has served in both state and federal roles, as well as in the private sector, advocating on behalf of water systems to ensure continued infrastructure investments and smart, achievable regulations.
04:31She understands that environmental protection and economic growth can go hand in hand, and she knows how to ensure regulations are clear, fair, and based on science.
04:42Just as exactly the serious civil servant all senators and the American people should want in place now.
04:50So I would ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following nomination.
04:56Executive calendar number 89, Jessica Kramer, to be an assistant administrator of the EPA.
05:02That the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate.
05:08The motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table.
05:13And that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
05:18Is there objection?
05:20President.
05:21Senator from Rhode Island.
05:22Reserving the right to object.
05:24On April 9th, I voted for Ms. Kramer in the Environment and Public Works Committee.
05:32Since then, the EPA has devolved into a cesspool of fossil fuel corruption.
05:42As ranking member of EPW, in my constitutional oversight capacity, I have sent 12 oversight letters to EPA asking for documents and communications, as is my duty and my right.
06:00Also, several QFRs.
06:04As of July, when we went through the closing nominations exercise, I had received substantive responses to precisely zero of those 12 letters.
06:17So, prior to that August recess, we explored a deal to include Ms. Kramer in the NOMS package for pre-August recess action if we could get the substantive oversight responses we were due on four of the 12 topics.
06:44These were EPA's grants freeze, Administrator Zeldin's false statements about the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, EPA's plans to rescind the endangerment finding, and EPA undoing the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program at industry request.
07:01I actually consider that to be a minor ask.
07:04Because it is the Administrator's constitutional duty to answer honestly to Congressional oversight.
07:12Plus, he'd made a promise to the Chairman and to the Committee at his confirmation to be responsive.
07:18Nevertheless, EPA was not willing to provide responses to these questions.
07:25I will emphasize this was EPA's decision, not Chair Capito's decision.
07:32She is blameless in this.
07:34It is EPA that is stonewalling Congressional oversight.
07:38So, that is where we are.
07:41We actually just received QFR responses from Administrator Zeldin, which persist in unresponsive and unprofessional non-answers and no provision of documents.
07:55In fact, prevarication, insult, and invective have characterized the so-called responses.
08:04I say to my colleagues, and to the distinguished EPW Chair, I don't think it's a big ask that executive branch agencies take Congressional oversight seriously.
08:16I believe that if former EPA Administrator Regan had ever responded to Senator Capito as EPW Ranking Member in such a manner, or frankly, to any other member of the Committee, then Chairman Carper would have hit the roof.
08:38To me, EPA is augmenting its corrupt favoritism for fossil fuel polluters with an unconstitutional rejection of Congressional oversight, perhaps because there is, in fact, much to hide.
08:55Again, honest agency answers to a ranking member ought not to be a big ask.
09:03It ought to be the ordinary course of business.
09:07A reasonable and good-faith effort to comply should be expected.
09:12We ask for answers to four of twelve letters.
09:16There is an easy answer here, that EPA follows the law and the Constitution and the Administrator's own promises.
09:23But failing that, since EPA won't, I regretfully must object.
09:28The objection is heard.
09:33I thank the ranking member.
09:36I don't thank him for his objection, but I thank him for weighing in here today and working well on the Committee.
09:41I do think that somebody as talented as Ms. Kramer would make the EPA run not much more smoothly, but also she is such a professional.
09:53But I don't think we are disputing the qualifications of the nominee, so I would next like to turn to Sean McMaster, the nominee for the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation.
10:06Mr. McMaster was again voted out of the EPW Committee in a bipartisan manner.
10:11The vote was 12 to 7 in June.
10:14He has more than 10 years of government service working in the United States House of Representatives and at federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Transportation.
10:24For the last five years, Mr. McMaster has worked for two private sector transportation companies, first serving as a national practice consultant and vice president at HNTB, and most recently as the vice president for commercial aviation and transportation at the Boeing Company.
10:41Mr. McMaster's professional background both in the public and private sectors related to transportation policy and implementation makes him especially well suited to lead the Federal Highway Administration.
10:54The Environmental and Public Works Committee is now hard at work developing the next surface transportation bill.
11:01This is a major undertaking.
11:03We have received hundreds of requests from senators on both sides of the aisle regarding this legislation.
11:11My goal as the chair is to mark up a bipartisan reauthorization bill in the EPW Committee later this year as a step towards having the bill signed into law by next September when the previous bill will lapse at the end of September 26.
11:27Our committee works closely with the Federal Highway Administration in the reauthorization process.
11:33FHWA provides valuable technical assistance in making sure that the policy provisions that we all come up with achieve the congressional objectives but also are within the parameters of the department.
11:47Having a Senate-confirmed FHWA administrator is important to facilitate that cooperation between the committee and the administration.
11:55This will help address implementation issues during the bill development process.
12:00And I believe that our bipartisan reauthorization process would benefit greatly from Sean McMaster's confirmation.
12:08So with that I would ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed the consideration of the following nomination.
12:15Executive calendar number 177, Sean McMaster to be administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.
12:21That the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate.
12:26The motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
12:30And that the President be immediately informed of the Senate's action.
12:34Is there objection?
12:36Mr. President.
12:38Senator from Rhode Island.
12:39Reserving the right to object.
12:41I voted for Mr. McMaster in committee.
12:45Indeed, I pushed for his inclusion in a nominations package before the August recess.
12:54And I succeeded.
12:57He was included for confirmation at that time in that package.
13:04I had asked DOT to release its new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program guidance.
13:11And to do so timely.
13:13As consideration for supporting Mr. McMaster's inclusion in that nominations package.
13:19But then what happened?
13:21President Trump did not agree to the package.
13:27Indeed, he rejected it.
13:30Adding for good measure an all caps blast at the Democratic leader that he should go to hell.
13:38And so, Mr. McMaster did not get confirmed.
13:42Even though he was in the package.
13:45Because of President Trump losing his temper and objecting to the whole package.
13:51DOT, nonetheless, has released the NEVI guidance.
13:56And it is very workable for states.
13:58For that, I am thankful.
14:00And I would like to support Mr. McMaster.
14:03Unfortunately, last Friday, DOT announced, without warning, that it was terminating nearly $700 million in grant funding for 12 port projects.
14:15Including an $11.25 million grant to the port of Davisville in my home state of Rhode Island.
14:22I got no prior call or explanation from DOT.
14:25Just boom.
14:27Friday.
14:28Friday.
14:29The chairman has been kind enough to raise this matter with Secretary Duffy.
14:35And I would like to sort out how this new obstacle, thrown up Friday by DOT, will be resolved.
14:42It's a bit soon, after that unexpected punch in the face, to want to resolve a nomination that's only still pending and not confirmed because of President Trump's objection.
14:57I'd like to work with the chairman on a date to come to the floor in support of a unanimous consent for this individual.
15:07Indeed, I'd be happy to do the same thing for Ms. Kramer.
15:12Because I would like to get these issues resolved.
15:17But the port hit was an unexpected and, in my view, unjustified blow.
15:24So for the moment, while I try to understand that, with the chairman's gracious help, I must object.
15:33And if I may, I would add that there was a third candidate involved in these conversations, Mr. Tella, who was also, for an Army Corps position, who was also primed to be on that nominations list with my support.
15:48Senator Hagerty, whose chief of staff he had been, made the prudent decision to put him onto the voting list and get his nomination considered on the floor that evening and get him voted through before President Trump exploded the package.
16:04So I just want to make a record of the fact that we were ready to support Mr. Tella as well, even before that vote was called to the floor.
16:13With that, I yield back and renew my objection.
16:17Objection is heard.
16:18Mr. President, I just would like to address just briefly something Senator Whitehouse has said by tossing all of the blame to the fact that we have no unanimous consent and no voice vote candidates under President Trump when the control of that is squarely within the Democrat leader, Senator Schumer, of New York.
16:40We know, if you look at the chart that's been made, we know the numbers that were done under the Biden administration, under Trump won, under Obama, under Bush, Clinton.
16:52And when you get down to the end of the chart, dip, big zero for President Trump.
16:58So with that, I think we're in a place where we need to make adjustments here.
17:02I think that's what we're looking at.
17:04I agree with Senator Whitehouse, and these are critical appointments, as many of them are.
17:10I'm glad that Mr. Tella was able to make it through at the very end.
17:15He's already had a visit to West Virginia, and he's going to do a great job.
17:18So with that, I'll yield back my time.
17:21Mr. President.
17:25Senator from Rhode Island.
17:27I would just like to offer one set of figures into the record in the hopes that it helps clarify things.
17:36My office tells me that Trump nominations that have been confirmed in the Senate as of September 3rd, number 135,
17:48President Biden's nominations confirmed as of that same date in his first months, September 3rd of 19, of 2021, was 150.
18:01Not counting judicial nominations, Biden has 141 and Trump has 130.
18:07So the numbers are actually fairly close in terms of the outcome, although the processes have been different.
18:13But again, I want to reemphasize my desire to work with the chairman to get these cleared.
18:18I voted for all three, and I'd like to support them as soon as we can get what seemed to me to be fairly elementary problems resolved.
18:26Thank you very much.
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