David Thomas: “I do want to talk a moment about the nomination of Howard Baker to be Ambassador to Japan. I am chairman of the…”

“I do want to talk a moment about the nomination of Howard Baker to be Ambassador to Japan. I am chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Rim. We held a hearing today for Howard Baker. Fortunately, we were able to move it today so that his nomination can be voted on for confirmation. Mr. President, I am pleased to accept Howard Baker as Ambassador to Japan. I am chairman of that subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific rim. Certainly one of the most important countries in that area is Japan, a country with which we have worked closely for a very long time. We have had some of our highest profile Ambassadors in Japan, people in the past who had come from the Senate, also including a Speaker of the House and a majority leader of the Senate several years ago. Now we have the opportunity--and I was very pleased to be able today to hold that hearing--to have Howard Baker as our nominee whom the President nominated to this important task. We are very proud to pass it on. We thank the leader for being able to bring it to the floor today so we can get our Ambassador in place in Japan. Japan is key, of course, to much of what we do in the Asian area, and it is key to what we do in Korea, particularly North Korea and the Korean peninsula. We need to work with Japan to do that. The same is true with Taiwan and China. Japan is our partner.”