{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2014-12-16-pt1-PgS6884", "2014-12-16", 113, 2, null, null, "NOMINATION OF SARAH R. SALDANA TO BE AN ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY--Continued", "SENATE", "SENATE", "SNOMINATIONS", "S6884", "S6886", "[{\"name\": \"Thomas R. Carper\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Richard J. Durbin\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"John Cornyn\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Patrick J. Leahy\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Michael B. Enzi\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Roger F. Wicker\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "160 Cong. Rec. S6884", "Congressional Record, Volume 160 Issue 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S6884-S6886]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\nNOMINATION OF SARAH R. SALDANA TO BE AN ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HOMELAND\n                          SECURITY--Continued\n\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 2:30\np.m. will be equally divided in the usual form.\n  Who yields time?\n  If neither side yields time, both sides will be equally charged.\n  The Senator from Delaware.\n  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to\nvote in a few minutes to confirm Sarah Saldana to be Assistant\nSecretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\n  A number of our friends have come to the floor opposing Ms. Saldana's\nnomination, but incredibly enough, I have not heard them question her\nqualifications. Their opposition appears to be in response to the\nPresident's decision to bring 5 million hard-working, law-abiding\nimmigrants out of the shadows earlier this month.\n  Let me just say, as one Member of the Senate, we can quarrel about\nthe timing and we can quarrel about the policy. I think for the most\npart the policy in the President's proposal is good. Do I wish we had\ndone it as a body? Do I wish we had done our job? You bet I do. But I\nwish the President had delayed the announcement until a little bit\nlater this year. He did not. So that is where we are.\n  Whether you like the President's Executive order or not, today it is\nabout whether we take our responsibility seriously to ensure that\nFederal agencies have the leadership they need to operate efficiently\nand effectively.\n  The single most important ingredient of any organization, I do not\ncare whether it is a governmental entity--I spent some time in the\nNavy--whether it is a military unit, whether it is a sports team,\nwhether it is a school, business, whatever it might be, the single most\nimportant ingredient to the success of that entity is leadership.\n  This is an agency where we are talking about filling a big gap in\nleadership in Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We call it ICE. It\nis critical. It is a critical law enforcement agency within the\nDepartment of Homeland Security. Listen to this: It has been without a\nPresidentially appointed leader now for more than 16 months. That is\nfar too long, particularly when we consider all the issues we face\nalong our borders and the more than 400 laws that this agency,\nImmigration and Customs Enforcement, enforces.\n  The agency plays a critical role in securing our borders. They take\ndangerous criminals off the streets. They send them back to their own\ncountries in many instances. In fact, on any given day ICE arrests some\n370 criminal aliens in the interior of our country, they have some\n34,000 people in detention in this country, and they remove nearly 500\ncriminal aliens from our country ever day. Every day all that happens.\n  Managing such a large agency, with one of the most complex missions\nin the Federal Government, is a tall, tall order. This mission is made\nall the harder when the agency is forced to go month after month\nwithout permanent leadership.\n  Immigration and Customs Enforcement had the unfortunate distinction\nof finishing last in the annual survey of employee morale among Federal\nagencies. That is right--actually, not last; they were tied for last.\nIn how many agencies were the employees really quizzed or questioned\nabout whether they are satisfied with their work? They finished last\nout of not 100, not 200, not 300, but out of 314 agencies. When I\nvisited the agency recently, employees told me that one of their\nbiggest frustrations was the lack of Senate-confirmed leadership.\nThankfully, this is one problem we can remedy, and we can remedy it\ntoday.\n  Ms. Saldana is a true American success story. She rose from humble\nbeginnings in South Texas as the youngest of seven children. She went\non to become an accomplished partner at a major law firm. She is now\none of the Nation's top law enforcement officers. She could not be more\nqualified to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\n  But do not take my word for it. One of our good friends here in the\nSenate, Mr. John Cornyn, the senior Senator from Texas, felt strongly\nenough about her qualifications that he was good enough to come and\nintroduce Ms. Saldana at her confirmation hearing before the committee\nI chair and the Presiding Officer serves on, the Committee on Homeland\nSecurity and Governmental Affairs. Senator Cornyn told us that day that\nshe was highly qualified, fiercely independent, and had served her\nState with honor.\n\n  This is what he said:\n\n       If respect for the rule of law is our standard, and I think\n     it should be, we would be hard pressed to find a person more\n     qualified to enforce the law than Ms. Saldana.\n\n  His comments. That is high praise, and I could not agree more.\n  Nevertheless, Senator Cornyn and some of his colleagues now oppose\nSarah Saldana's nomination--not because she is unqualified, not because\nshe does not work hard, not because she does not have good values, but\nbecause she will have to carry out the President's recent Executive\norder on immigration. That may be understandable. I think it is also\nunfortunate. It does not punish the President to leave this position\nunfilled. It does not just punish the employees to leave this position\nunfilled. In the end, it punishes the citizens of this country. It\nmakes it harder for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to accomplish\nits critical mission of helping to secure our borders. It makes it\nharder for them to do their job in terms of taking dangerous criminals\noff of our streets. And it hurts the men and women at ICE who deserve a\nleader to ensure this important agency runs as effectively as possible.\n  I believe the President acted within the bounds--I know not everyone\nagrees with me on this, but I believe the President acted within the\nbounds of the law in announcing his Executive action. While I may\nquarrel with the timing of it, I also feel very deeply if we--not in\nthis body but in the other body on the other side of the Capitol--had\ndone our job with respect to immigration reform, we would not have this\ndustup today over this nomination. But whether or not you agree with\nme, opposing Ms. Saldana's nomination will do nothing to change what\nthe President has done--nothing.\n  I said it before; I will say it again. It is irresponsible for us to\nleave a critical agency such as this without a proven leader. It has\nbeen more than 16 months. It should not be another month or two or\nthree.\n  So I hope Ms. Saldana--the first Hispanic person and the second woman\never to be nominated to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement--does\nnot fall victim to politics here in the Senate. By all accounts, she is\nexactly what this critical agency needs: a proven leader, a respected\nmember of the law enforcement community.\n  I urge all of my colleagues--Democratic and Republican and even the\ntwo Independents who are here with us serving their States--I urge you\nto support her. I am proud to do that today.\n  Thank you, Madam President.\n\n                             Cloture Motion\n\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before\nthe Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.\n  The bill clerk read as follows:\n\n                             Cloture Motion\n\n       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the\n     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,\n     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of\n     Sarah R. Saldana, of Texas, to be an Assistant Secretary of\n     Homeland Security.\n         Harry Reid, Thomas R. Carper, Patrick J. Leahy, Patty\n           Murray, Tom Udall, Brian Schatz, Charles E. Schumer,\n           Barbara Boxer, Benjamin L. Cardin, Richard Blumenthal,\n           Jeff Merkley, Al Franken, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Martin\n           Heinrich, Elizabeth Warren, Richard J. Durbin,\n           Christopher Murphy.\n\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate\nthat debate on the nomination of Sarah R. Saldana, of Texas, to be an\nAssistant Secretary of Homeland Security, shall be brought to a close?\n  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.\n  The clerk will call the roll.\n  The bill clerk called the roll.\n  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer)\n\n[[Page S6885]]\n\nand the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.\n  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the\nSenator from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr.\nCochran), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Johanns), and the Senator from\nAlabama (Mr. Sessions).\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber\ndesiring to vote?\n  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 53, nays 41, as follows:\n\n                      [Rollcall Vote No. 359 Ex.]\n\n                                YEAS--53\n\n     Baldwin\n     Begich\n     Bennet\n     Blumenthal\n     Booker\n     Brown\n     Cantwell\n     Cardin\n     Carper\n     Casey\n     Coons\n     Donnelly\n     Durbin\n     Feinstein\n     Franken\n     Gillibrand\n     Hagan\n     Harkin\n     Heinrich\n     Heitkamp\n     Hirono\n     Johnson (SD)\n     Kaine\n     King\n     Klobuchar\n     Landrieu\n     Leahy\n     Levin\n     Manchin\n     Markey\n     McCaskill\n     Menendez\n     Merkley\n     Mikulski\n     Murphy\n     Murray\n     Nelson\n     Pryor\n     Reed\n     Reid\n     Rockefeller\n     Schatz\n     Schumer\n     Shaheen\n     Stabenow\n     Tester\n     Udall (CO)\n     Udall (NM)\n     Walsh\n     Warner\n     Warren\n     Whitehouse\n     Wyden\n\n                                NAYS--41\n\n     Alexander\n     Ayotte\n     Barrasso\n     Blunt\n     Boozman\n     Burr\n     Coats\n     Coburn\n     Collins\n     Corker\n     Cornyn\n     Crapo\n     Cruz\n     Enzi\n     Fischer\n     Flake\n     Graham\n     Grassley\n     Hatch\n     Heller\n     Hoeven\n     Inhofe\n     Isakson\n     Johnson (WI)\n     Kirk\n     Lee\n     McCain\n     McConnell\n     Moran\n     Murkowski\n     Paul\n     Portman\n     Risch\n     Roberts\n     Rubio\n     Scott\n     Shelby\n     Thune\n     Toomey\n     Vitter\n     Wicker\n\n                             NOT VOTING--6\n\n     Boxer\n     Chambliss\n     Cochran\n     Johanns\n     Sanders\n     Sessions\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are\n41.\n  The motion is agreed to.\n  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, today, we will vote on the nomination of\nMs. Sarah Saldana to serve as Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security,\nwhere she will lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE,\noffice. Ms. Saldana has been considered and favorably reported by both\nthe Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and the\nSenate Judiciary Committee.\n  A native of South Texas, Ms. Saldana is the youngest of seven\nchildren. Inspired by her mother's emphasis on education, Ms. Saldana\nwent to college and graduated from law school. She established a\nsuccessful career as an attorney in private practice before becoming a\nFederal prosecutor. In 2011, with the support of her home State\nSenators from Texas, the Senate unanimously confirmed her as U.S.\nattorney for the Northern District of Texas, and she became the first\nLatina U.S. attorney in the State's history. In this position, Ms.\nSaldana has earned a reputation as a tough but fair prosecutor.\nThroughout her career, she has demonstrated a firm and unequivocal\ncommitment to enforcing the law, and she has pledged that she will\nmaintain that commitment if confirmed to lead ICE.\n  At her hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government\nAffairs Committee in September, Senator Cornyn introduced Ms. Saldana\nand vouched for her qualifications, stating: ``If respect for the rule\nof law is our standard . . . we would be hard-pressed to find a person\nmore qualified to enforce the law than Ms. Saldana.'' I agree. Ms.\nSaldana has made clear that, if confirmed, she will ``faithfully\nexecute all immigration laws, including those laws that [she] or the\nPresident disagree with.''\n  Some want to use Ms. Saldana's nomination as an opportunity to attack\nPresident Obama's Executive action on immigration, but that is not the\nissue we are considering today. There is no evidence that she was\ninvolved in either the House's refusal to allow a vote on the Senate-\npassed comprehensive immigration reform bill or the President's\ndecision to take what steps he could in the wake of the House's refusal\nto act. The vote before us concerns Ms. Saldana's qualifications to\nlead ICE, and she has proved that she is more than capable of executing\nthe duties of the position. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has\nbeen without a Senate-confirmed leader for more than a year. If\nSenators want our immigration laws enforced, they should focus on\nfilling this key leadership position.\n  There is no question that Sarah Saldana is qualified to lead the\nImmigration and Customs Enforcement office. I urge Senators to vote to\nconfirm her to this important law enforcement position at the\nDepartment of Homeland Security without further delay.\n  Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I wish to express my opposition to the\nnomination of Sarah Saldana to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland\nSecurity.\n  My concerns are not based on Ms. Saldana's qualifications. In fact I\nsupported reporting her out of the Homeland Security and Governmental\nAffairs Committee on November 12, 2014 with every other member of that\ncommittee. However, in the wake of the President's unilateral changes\nto our immigration policies through Executive actions, I cannot support\nher confirmation at this time.\n  The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is responsible for\nenforcing Federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and\nimmigration. But last month President Obama announced that he and his\nCabinet do not intend to deport several million illegal immigrants, and\nI cannot vote for someone who will not enforce our laws.\n  By circumventing Congress on immigration and instituting his will\nthrough Executive actions last month, President Obama is eroding the\nvery foundation of our country and form of government. This sets a\ndangerous precedent where future Presidents can flout any law they\nhappen to disagree with and alter the law without going through\nCongress. Each branch of government is to act as a check against the\nothers and not sit idly by as one exercises authority it does not have.\n  For these reasons I must oppose Ms. Saldana's nomination at this\ntime.\n  Under the previous order, all postcloture time has expired. The\nquestion occurs on the nomination.\n  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination\nof Sarah R. Saldana, of Texas, to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland\nSecurity?\n  Mr. WICKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?\n  There appears to be a sufficient second.\n  The clerk will call the roll.\n  The assistant bill clerk called the roll.\n  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer)\nand the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.\n  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the\nSenator from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr.\nCochran), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Johanns), and the Senator from\nAlabama (Mr. Sessions).\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). Are there any other Senators in\nthe Chamber desiring to vote?\n  The result was announced--yeas 55, nays 39, as follows:\n\n                      [Rollcall Vote No. 360 Ex.]\n\n                                YEAS--55\n\n     Baldwin\n     Begich\n     Bennet\n     Blumenthal\n     Booker\n     Brown\n     Cantwell\n     Cardin\n     Carper\n     Casey\n     Coburn\n     Coons\n     Donnelly\n     Durbin\n     Feinstein\n     Franken\n     Gillibrand\n     Hagan\n     Harkin\n     Hatch\n     Heinrich\n     Heitkamp\n     Hirono\n     Johnson (SD)\n     Kaine\n     King\n     Klobuchar\n     Landrieu\n     Leahy\n     Levin\n     Manchin\n     Markey\n     McCaskill\n     Menendez\n     Merkley\n     Mikulski\n     Murphy\n     Murray\n     Nelson\n     Pryor\n     Reed\n     Reid\n     Rockefeller\n     Schatz\n     Schumer\n     Shaheen\n     Stabenow\n     Tester\n     Udall (CO)\n     Udall (NM)\n     Walsh\n     Warner\n     Warren\n     Whitehouse\n     Wyden\n\n                                NAYS--39\n\n     Alexander\n     Ayotte\n     Barrasso\n     Blunt\n     Boozman\n     Burr\n     Coats\n     Collins\n     Corker\n     Cornyn\n     Crapo\n     Cruz\n     Enzi\n     Fischer\n     Flake\n     Graham\n     Grassley\n     Heller\n     Hoeven\n     Inhofe\n     Isakson\n     Johnson (WI)\n     Kirk\n     Lee\n     McCain\n     McConnell\n     Moran\n     Murkowski\n     Paul\n     Portman\n     Risch\n     Roberts\n     Rubio\n     Scott\n     Shelby\n     Thune\n     Toomey\n     Vitter\n     Wicker\n\n                             NOT VOTING--6\n\n     Boxer\n     Chambliss\n     Cochran\n     Johanns\n     Sanders\n     Sessions\n  The nomination was confirmed.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to\nreconsider is considered made and laid\n\n[[Page S6886]]\n\nupon the table, and the President will be immediately notified of the\nSenate's action.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2014-12-16-pt1-PgS6884"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1975960806012154, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}