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“MOTION TO DISCHARGE--Continued” mentioning Roy Blunt was published in the Senate section on pages S1976-S1977 on April 15.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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The publication is reproduced in full below:
MOTION TO DISCHARGE--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant Democratic leader.
Nomination of Vanita Gupta
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, what is it about these nominees Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke that drives some of the Members on the other side of the aisle into a rage? Listen to how they describe them.
The senior Senator from Texas describes Vanita Gupta as a political
``culture warrior,'' slandering and vilifying people. Then, of course, the junior Senator from Texas calls her an ``extreme partisan ideologue.'' ``Radical twins,'' he calls them.
What is it about these two nominees that drives them into such a state of mind that they say these things about individuals seeking an opportunity to again serve our Federal Government?
It is amazing to me that the junior Senator from Texas suggests that they are in the thrall of handlers. Handlers. If you heard the story of the lives of these two women and what they have overcome to be where they are today, the last thing in the world you would use is a reference to handlers. They have defied handlers all throughout their lives--sons of immigrants, daughters of immigrants. Like so many of them, they know they have to work hard to prove themselves, and they have done it time and again.
Vanita Gupta. Can you picture that moment when the civil rights organizations said to Vanita Gupta: We want you to go to Tulia, TX, because something has happened there that looks like a terrible miscarriage of justice. Forty people have been arrested for drug crimes in Tulia, TX, and we want you to go down there, even though they are in jail and they have been convicted, and defend them and try to find a way that they will be released.
That is exactly what Vanita Gupta did. The net result was that they were not only released, but the lawman who had supposedly found them guilty was the one who was discredited and dishonored when it was over, and the Texas Governor--the Republican Texas Governor--acknowledged it with a pardon of these individuals and paying them millions of dollars for what they had lived through. Who led that charge? Vanita Gupta. Was she waiting for a message from a handler? No. She showed extraordinary courage there and throughout her life as an attorney fighting for the civil rights of others and as an attorney representing the Government of the United States of America and the Department of Justice.
When I listen to efforts to discredit her and her professionalism, I think, you haven't read the story. You would know in a second she doesn't wait to hear from a handler. She never has. She has shown exceptional courage and professionalism every step of the way.
Kristen Clarke, the same. Born in an area of New York City that I am sure Senator Schumer knows, in a public tenement type of building, she overcame all the odds. She graduated from law school and served in the Department of Justice.
When the junior Senator from Texas comes and refers to Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke as ``radical twins,'' zealots, ideologues, it is disgusting. It is terrible. It is a terrible reference to a fine life that each of them has lived.
And this notion that somehow they have fooled the Fraternal Order of Police into believing that they really do love police, when, in fact, as the Republicans argue, they just want to take all their money away--
we know better. The fact that Vanita Gupta has the endorsement of every major law enforcement organization puts to rest some of the charges they have made against her.
I can't believe what they are saying about these two nominees, but I think that a majority of the Senate is ultimately going to judge that they are ready to serve this country again and should, and the Department of Justice.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. The Senator from Utah has graciously yielded back his remaining time, so I ask unanimous consent that I speak for a brief few minutes and then we vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. SCHUMER. And then yield back the rest of our time after that.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Nomination of Vanita Gupta
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the Senate will soon vote on a motion to discharge the nomination of Vanita Gupta to serve as the next Attorney General--Associate Attorney General. The daughter of immigrants, she would be the first woman of color and the first civil rights attorney to serve as Attorney General.
Ms. Gupta is an exceptional nominee and an outstanding lawyer. It is confounding that her nomination has been tied up in the Judiciary Committee, requiring the Senate to take the extra procedural steps to move her nomination forward. But despite Republican obstruction, she will be confirmed by this Chamber in a few minutes.
Ms. Gupta's credentials speak for themselves. She most recently served as president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and served 4 years at the Justice Department.
Her first case after law school involved securing the release of several African Americans wrongly convicted by all-White juries in Texas.
At a time when so many in our country call for action against civil injustices and racial violence, how can we not install one of the Nation's top civil rights lawyers at the Department of Justice?
Senate Republicans, rather than evaluate Ms. Gupta on the merits of her accomplishments, have spent the last few weeks appealing to outlandish accusations that she is an out-of-touch, far-left radical.
The questions she endured during her confirmation hearing were utterly inane--from accusations that she is anti-police to the insinuation that she wants to legalize all drugs. A conservative judicial organization even launched a shameful national ad campaign to smear her reputation--her nomination. These smear tactics are nonsense.
Gupta commands the respect of civil rights advocates and law enforcement and has the endorsement from the National Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. There is no mystery to Ms. Gupta's broad support. She is outstanding at what she does. She knows how to listen and work with others, including Republican Senators, and is deeply knowledgeable in the field. That is exactly--exactly--she is exactly the kind of person we need at the Department of Justice.
So I look forward to now moving on Ms. Gupta's nomination.
I yield back the rest of our time.
Vote on Motion to Discharge
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Tester) is necessarily absent.
Mr. BLUNT. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Braun), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Montana (Mr. Daines), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Paul), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Portman).
Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Marshall) would have voted ``nay.''-
The result was announced--yeas 49, nays 34, as follows:
YEAS--49
BaldwinBennetBlumenthalBookerBrownCantwellCardinCarperCaseyCoonsCortez MastoDuckworthDurbinFeinsteinGillibrandHassanHeinrichHickenlooperHironoKaineKellyKingKlobucharLeahyLujanManchinMarkeyMenendezMerkleyMurphyMurrayOssoffPadillaPetersReedRosenSandersSchatzSchumerShaheenSinemaSmithStabenowVan HollenWarnerWarnockWarrenWhitehouseWyden
NAYS--34
BlackburnBluntBoozmanCapitoCassidyCollinsCornynCottonCramerCrapoCruzErnstFischerGrahamGrassleyHagertyHawleyHoevenHyde-SmithJohnsonKennedyLankfordLeeMcConnellMurkowskiRubioSasseScott (FL)Scott (SC)ShelbySullivanTubervilleWickerYoung
NOT VOTING--17
BarrassoBraunBurrDainesInhofeLummisMarshallMoranPaulPortmanRischRomneyRoundsTesterThuneTillisToomey
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). Pursuant to S. Res. 27 and the motion to discharge having been agreed to, the nomination will be placed on the Executive Calendar.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
____________________
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