On the recordJanuary 9, 2017
I congratulate Representative Cedric Richmond as he takes the helm of the CBC and manages this exercise tonight; and also Representative Marc Veasey, who will be the point man for doing these Special Orders. We are called upon tonight at a critical time in the Nation's history. We have a new President coming in who is polarizing, divisive, inexperienced, and immature. He is making some selections for his appointments, and the Senate has the opportunity to weigh in on those appointments. So what is happening is that there are incomplete and missing answers to the Senate questionnaires that appointees like Senator Jeff Sessions, who I rise in opposition to, have completed and sent in. This puts the Office of Government Ethics that vets these candidates at a severe disadvantage of not having the information that they need in order to vet these appointees, like Senator Jeff Sessions. They don't have the information that they need. So we also have a compressed schedule of nominees to be considered over the next few days. This, combined with the incomplete answers, puts us in a position of not having enough information to conduct full, fair, thorough, and sifting analysis and vetting for the American people. These are the people who are going to serve them into the future. So I am very concerned, especially about a guy like Senator Sessions who has a history of being opposed to civil rights for certain Americans.…
