congressional_record: CREC-2014-12-16-pt1-PgS6903-3
Data license: Public Domain (U.S. Government data) · Data source: Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API
This data as json
| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CREC-2014-12-16-pt1-PgS6903-3 | 2014-12-16 | 113 | 2 | EXECUTIVE CALENDAR, NOMINATION DISCHARGED, AND PRIVILEGED NOMINATIONS | SENATE | SENATE | SEXECCAL | S6903 | S6904 | [{"name": "Harry Reid", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Mark L. Pryor", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "John Thune", "role": "speaking"}] | 160 Cong. Rec. S6903 | Congressional Record, Volume 160 Issue 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014) [Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)] [Senate] [Pages S6903-S6904] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] EXECUTIVE CALENDAR, NOMINATION DISCHARGED, AND PRIVILEGED NOMINATIONS The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader. Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar Nos. 900, Broadcasting Board of Governors; 651, 970, Chemical Safety Board; 1079, Rasmussen; 514, Lopes; 1104, Bradley; 1141, Rosekind; 933, Tierney; 644, 645, 646, 737, Udall Foundation; 844, 845, 862, 864, 865, Legal Services Board; 757, 1085, 1086, Election Assistance Corporation; 1062, 1005, U.S. Attorneys; 1099, 1100, Coleman; 790, Alexander; 1111, Berteau; 1110, Scher; 1090, Baily; 1091, Cekuta; 1092, Uyehara; 1093, Mills; further, that the commerce committee be discharged from further consideration of the nomination PN 2092, O'Rielly; further, that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of PN2065, PN1279, PN1280, Legal Services Board; further, that the Environment and Public Works Committee be discharged from further consideration of PN1916, Udall Foundation; that the nominations be agreed to; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nominations; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered. The nominations considered and confirmed are as follows: broadcasting board of governors Karen Kornbluh, of New York, to be a Member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors for a term expiring August 13, 2016. chemical safety and hazard investigation board Richard J. Engler, of New Jersey, to be a Member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board for a term of five years. Manuel H. Ehrlich, Jr., of New Jersey, to be a Member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board for a term of five years. office of the director of national intelligence Nicholas J. Rasmussen, of Virginia, to be Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence. inter-american development bank Mark E. Lopes, of Arizona, to be United States Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank for a term of three years. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Leigh A. Bradley, of Virginia, to be General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Mark R. Rosekind, of California, to be Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Helen Tierney, of Virginia, to be Chief Financial Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs. MORRIS K. UDALL AND STEWART L. UDALL FOUNDATION Charles P. Rose, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation for a term expiring May 26, 2019. Mark Thomas Nethery, of Kentucky, to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation for a term expiring October 6, 2018. Anne J. Udall, of Oregon, to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation for a term expiring October 6, 2016. Camilla C. Feibelman, of New Mexico, to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation for a term expiring April 15, 2017. legal services corporation Martha L. Minow, of Massachusetts, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2017. Charles Norman Wiltse Keckler, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2016. legal services corporation Gloria Valencia-Weber, of New Mexico, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2017. John Gerson Levi, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2017. Robert James Grey, Jr., of Virginia, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2017. election assistance commission Thomas Hicks, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Election Assistance Commission for a term expiring December 12, 2017. Matthew Vincent Masterson, of Ohio, to be a Member of the Election Assistance Commission for a term expiring December 12, 2017. Christy A. McCormick, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Election Assistance Commission for a term expiring December 12, 2015. department of justice David Rivera, of Tennessee, to be United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee for the term of four years. Arthur Lee Bentley III, of Florida, to be United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida for the term of four years. united nations Isobel Coleman, of New York, to be Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador. Isobel Coleman, of New York, as an Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations during her tenure of service as Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform. united states agency for international development Paige Eve Alexander, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. department of defense David J. Berteau, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense. Robert M. Scher, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense. department of state Jess Lippincott Baily, of Ohio, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Macedonia. Robert Francis Cekuta, of New York, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Azerbaijan. Margaret Ann Uyehara, of Ohio, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Montenegro. Richard M. Mills, Jr., of Texas, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United [[Page S6904]] States of America to the Republic of Armenia. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Michael P. O'Rielly, of New York, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission for a term of five years from July 1, 2014. LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION Joseph Pius Pietrzyk, of Ohio, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2017. Laurie I. Mikva, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2016. Victor B. Maddox, of Kentucky, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2016. morris k. udall and stewart l. udall foundation James L. Huffman, of Oregon, to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation for a term expiring October 6, 2020. Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the action of the Senate with respect to discharging PN Nos. 2065, 1279, 1280, and 1916 from the HELP and EPW Committees be vitiated. For the information of the Senate, these nominations were on the calendar on the privileged nominations list. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Rosekind Nomination Mr. THUNE. Mr. President. I support the nomination of Dr. Mark Rosekind to be the next administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA. Dr. Rosekind has served as a member of the National Traffic Safety Board, NTSB since 2009. His expertise is in developing countermeasures for fatigue in order to enhance vehicle safety. He also previously served at NASA for a number of years, and founded a technology company aimed at creating software that helps to reduce the role of fatigue in traffic incidents. While I have some reservations about his somewhat limited management experience, given the size of the workforce he has been nominated to lead, I believe Dr. Rosekind's experience and expertise will enable him to approach this agency that many perceive to be in crisis with an eye toward making it more agile and technologically capable. I believe that NHTSA must have a leader who can hit the ground running, and Dr. Rosekind's extensive work in the safety area gives me confidence that he will be the right leader at this time. As I stated at Dr. Rosekind's nomination hearing last week, the string of auto recalls this year has been cause for grave concern. We are on pace to have the all-time worst year for auto recalls in U.S. history, with about 60 million vehicles being subject to recalls so far. In many of these cases, there are legitimate questions about whether NHTSA should have identified the defective products earlier and communicated more effectively with the public. Since the start of the year, I have called on President Obama to nominate a qualified individual to lead NHTSA without delay because inaction sends a terrible signal to the regulated community and the American people about automobile safety and oversight. It took 343 days for President Obama to nominate a qualified individual to lead NHTSA, at a time when the Nation faced a year of record recalls, from the GM ignition switch recalls that began in February to the recalls involving defective Takata air bags. In fact, President Obama did not formally nominate Dr. Rosekind until the evening before the Commerce Committee was to hold a hearing regarding these defective Takata air bags. By contrast, it has taken only 22 days for the Senate to receive the nomination, work through regular order at the Commerce Committee to hold a hearing and a markup for Dr. Rosekind's nomination, and today, to confirm his nomination by the full Senate. I believe the Senate's action today sends the clear signal that Senators on both sides of the aisle care very deeply about improving auto safety. I look forward to working with Dr. Rosekind as NHTSA continues to work through the issues underlying the record number of recalls this year. I particularly look forward to learning the conclusions of the top-to-bottom review of NHTSA currently being conducted by the Obama administration, which Dr. Rosekind has promised to share publicly. Dr. Rosekind has a challenging road ahead of him, and the Commerce Committee will continue to pursue rigorous oversight of NHTSA for the foreseeable future, as well as possible solutions to better address some of the lapses that have occurred both at NHTSA and with certain auto manufacturers and parts suppliers. I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. ____________________ |