The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“EXECUTIVE SESSION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S240-S243 on Jan. 27, 2016.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
EXECUTIVE SESSION
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EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of John Michael Vazquez, of New Jersey, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 15 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form.
The Senator from Montana.
Energy Policy Modernization Bill
Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 is a crucial step forward in modernizing our country's energy policy and public lands management for the first time in nearly a decade, and we are doing it in a strong, bipartisan fashion. Moreover, we are taking the necessary steps to secure our Nation's energy future, in turn increasing economic opportunity and protecting our Nation's security needs.
Here are a few important components of this bill that I would like to highlight.
No. 1, it permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This is an important tool for increasing public access to public lands and one of the country's best conservation programs.
No. 2, this bill also streamlines the permitting for the export of liquefied natural gas, allowing more American energy to power the world.
Montana is the fifth largest producer of hydropower in the Nation, and we have 23 hydroelectric dams. This bill strengthens our Nation's hydropower development by streamlining the permitting process of new projects and finally defining hydropower as a renewable resource. Only Washington, DC, would not define hydropower as a renewable resource. This cleans that up by statute, allowing FERC to provide more time to construct new hydroelectric facilities on existing dams. It also extends construction licenses for Gibson Dam and Clark Canyon Dam, two projects critical to tax revenue and jobs for communities in Montana.
This energy bill establishes a pilot project to streamline drilling permits if less than 25 percent of the minerals within the spacing unit are federal minerals. The provision, sponsored by my good friend the senior Senator from North Dakota, Mr. Hoeven, is of particular importance to Montana, given the patchwork of land and mineral ownership in the Bakken.
It also improves the Federal permitting of critical and strategic mineral production, which supports thousands of good-paying Montana jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues for our State to support our infrastructure, our schools, and our teachers. Metal and nonmetal mining has created more than 8,500 good-paying Montana jobs. In fact, mining helps support more than 19,000 jobs in total across Montana. Metal mining in Montana has contributed $403 million in taxes, and nonmetal mining produces $128 million every year. This includes
$288 million of State and local taxes.
Finally, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 modernizes and strengthens the reliability and security of bulk power in America's electrical grid. In Montana, we know the important balance of responsibly developing our natural resources and serving as good stewards of our environment. Our energy sector supports thousands of good-paying jobs for union workers and tribal workers. Access to our State's one-of-a-kind public lands is critical to our State's tourism economy and our very way of life in Montana. This bill facilitates all these goals.
Given the overwhelming support this bill received in committee, I am hopeful that this bill will also receive strong bipartisan support as we work through the amendment process and take a final vote on this bill next week.
I also look forward to having the opportunity to make this bill even better for our Nation. This legislation makes important gains for Montana energy, but there is still work to do. We can't fully discuss our Nation's energy future without also addressing the President's moratorium on new Federal coal leases and royalty increase attempts for Federal coal, oil, and natural gas. I hope we can work together in a bipartisan fashion to address these important issues, which have a significant impact on jobs, tax revenue, and energy prices in Montana.
I would like to thank Chairman Murkowski, Ranking Member Cantwell, and their staffs for their work in getting us to this point. I look forward to seeing and voting on additional amendments from my colleagues in the coming days, and I look forward to getting this bill across the finish line, providing the American people with a comprehensive energy policy that works to support both our economic security as well as our national security.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today we will vote on the nomination of John Michael Vazquez to fill a judicial emergency vacancy in the Federal district court in the district of New Jersey. His confirmation is long overdue. He was nominated over 10 months ago and reported out of the Judiciary Committee by unanimous voice vote over 4 months ago.
Mr. Vazquez is an outstanding nominee who has experience both in private practice and in the public sector. Since 2008, he has practiced as a named partner at the law firm of Critchley, Kinum & Vazquez in Roseland, NJ. He has also devoted a significant part of his career to public service, having worked for both the office of the attorney general for the State of New Jersey and as a Federal prosecutor in the district of New Jersey. During his tenure as a Federal prosecutor, Mr. Vazquez handled a wide array of Federal investigations and prosecutions while serving in the general crimes unit, the major narcotics unit, the terrorism unit, and the securities and health care fraud unit.
The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated Mr. Vazquez ``Well Qualified'' to serve as a Federal district judge, its highest rating. He has the support of his home State Senators, Senators Menendez and Booker.
Mr. Vazquez's nomination reflects the enormous progress that the Senate and this administration have made in making the Federal judiciary more diverse and more representative of the citizenry it serves. The fact that there are more women and minorities than ever before serving on our Federal bench is important. The result of this progress is that it increases public confidence in our justice system.
Unfortunately, Senate Republicans have stalled this progress by obstructing several highly qualified Hispanic nominees. For example, Senate Republicans delayed the confirmation of Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo, the first Hispanic judge from Pennsylvania nominated to the third circuit, for more than a year. This was the case despite his excellent legal and judicial career and the strong bipartisan support he had from his home State Senators.
In addition, the junior Senator from Arkansas continues to impose a wholesale blockade on the nominees to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, including Armando Bonilla, a Cuban American who has devoted his entire career to public service at the U.S. Department of Justice. If confirmed, Mr. Bonilla would be the first Hispanic judge to hold a seat on that court, where he is urgently needed. The chief judge of the Court of Federal Claims has written to Chairman Grassley and me to express the need to confirm the pending nominees; yet Senator Cotton is being allowed to hold up these well-qualified nominees.
And just last week, the junior Senator from Georgia announced that he was withdrawing his support for the nomination of a Hispanic nominee to a Federal district court in Georgia. Judge Dax Lopez has served as a distinguished State court judge in DeKalb County, GA, since 2010. With his experience, I was not surprised that the Georgia Senators submitted Judge Lopez's name to the White House for consideration to the Federal district court. After recommending him to the White House, it is unfortunate that the junior Senator from Georgia is now blocking his nomination because of Judge Lopez's membership on the board of directors for the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. This nonpartisan organization's mission ``is to increase civic engagement and leadership of the Latino/Hispanic community across Georgia.'' But some conservatives have focused only on the fact that the organization supported common sense immigration reform--something that a bipartisan majority of this body supported when we passed comprehensive immigration reform in 2013.
I have long noted that I do not vote to confirm individuals to the bench because I expect to agree with all of their views. My standard is whether the nominee would be the kind of independent judge who would be fair and impartial. There is nothing in Judge Lopez's record to suggest that he could not or would not be an impartial judge. Judge Lopez has been a State court judge for nearly 6 years. Those who oppose Judge Lopez have decided that, because he was on the board of directors of an organization that advocates certain policies with which they disagree, they refuse to even consider his record or his own merits. This new litmus test for his membership in a nonpartisan organization sets a dangerous precedent that Senators should reject.
We also saw this unreasonable treatment from Senate Republicans with the nomination of Judge Edward Chen to the northern district of California. Despite having served as a Federal magistrate judge for a decade, Senate Republicans held up Judge Chen's nomination for years because Judge Chen had previously worked for the American Civil Liberties Union. According to one Republican Senator on the Judiciary Committee, Judge Chen had the ``ACLU gene,'' and so somehow he could not possibly be a fair judge--even though Judge Chen had shown that he could be an independent and neutral arbiter over the 10-year period that he served as a Federal magistrate judge. This new litmus test is completely unfair. I am sorry that Senate Republicans have now subjected Judge Lopez to this.
This afternoon, I hope we do not see a repeat of what happened to Judge Wilhelmina Wright, who was confirmed last week to the district court in Minnesota with a large number of ``no'' votes from Republicans. Judge Wright was the first African-American woman to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court and the first person to serve on all three levels of the Minnesota State judiciary; yet many Republicans chose to side with the moneyed Washington interest groups who unfairly attacked her nomination based on a writing assignment from her third year of law school. That a Washington political action committee is opposing a nominee should not prevent Senators from exercising their own fair judgment. The resource needs of our independent judiciary should not be tainted by calls for a shutdown of our constitutional role as Senators.
I urge my fellow Senators to vote to confirm Judge Vazquez.
Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, today I wish to support the nomination of John Michael Vazquez, whom the President nominated for a lifetime appointment as a United States district judge for the district of New Jersey.
I thank Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Reid for giving Mr. Vazquez a vote on the Senate floor. I appreciate Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Leahy and their respective staffs for all their hard work on moving this well-qualified judicial nominee through the Judiciary Committee. I also want to thank Senator Menendez, New Jersey's senior Senator, for his hard work on this judicial appointment.
The district of New Jersey currently has four judicial vacancies, all of which are judicial emergencies. This means that a very heavy caseload exists in that judicial district which, if left unremedied, undermines the quality and pace of access to justice for the people of New Jersey. According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, each judgeship in the district of New Jersey has over 650 weighted filings. That is unacceptable. Senator Menendez and I are committed to breaking the logjam and ensuring New Jerseyans gain more access to justice.
Mr. Vazquez is a well-qualified nominee. He has worked in both public service and private practice and has experience in both criminal and civil cases. His time in public service includes stints as a Federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office for the district of New Jersey and attorney in the New Jersey State attorney general's office where he rose up the ranks to become the first assistant attorney general. He is now a partner in private practice at a Roseland, NJ, law firm.
Mr. Vazquez has litigated both criminal and civil cases, which I am confident will make him a fine and well-balanced jurist. As a Federal prosecutor, he handled a wide variety of Federal criminal cases, including major narcotics prosecutions, as well as securities and health care fraud cases. In the state attorney general's office, he focused on criminal matters, including public corruption and financial fraud. In private practice, he specialized in criminal and civil law.
He has excellent credentials. He graduated summa cum laude from Seton Hall University School of Law and earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University--two prominent New Jersey educational institutions. He also clerked for a well-respected judge on the New Jersey Superior Court bench, appellate division.
Mr. Vazquez has also given back to his community. He won numerous awards for his dedication to his community and to law enforcement, including the Latino Legal Community Award from Seton Hall University School of Law's Latin American Law Students Association; the Excellence in Hispanic Leadership Award from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs' Center for Hispanic Policy; and recognition from the New Jersey County Prosecutor's Association and the New Jersey State Police.
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has unanimously rated Mr. Vazquez well-qualified to be a district court judge, the highest possible rating. Last September, he was favorably reported out of the Judiciary Committee by a unanimous voice vote. I am confident this well-qualified nominee will serve honorably on the Federal bench.
I urge my fellow Senators today to confirm Mr. Vasquez as a United States district judge to the district of New Jersey. I look forward to continue working with Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Leahy and Senate leadership to confirm more judicial nominees to fill vacancies in the district of New Jersey so that we can eliminate existing judicial emergencies.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I come before the Senate to express my enthusiastic recommendation for John Michael Vazquez's nomination and confirmation to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, which the Senate will be voting upon shortly.
Mr. Vazquez's credentials are impressive. He is a New Jerseyan who is eminently qualified and highly experienced, and I am confident that he will be an outstanding jurist whose judicial temperament, observance of precedent, and personal integrity will be beyond reproach.
There is an inscription over the 10th Street entrance to the Justice Department that I often am reminded of, and it can't be quoted too often when we are looking to perform one of our most vital duties, selecting those best qualified judicial nominees. It reads: ``Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as it first resides in the hearts and souls of its citizens.'' I believe that justice does, in fact, reside in the heart and soul of John Vazquez and that he will bring that judicial heart and soul to the task, as well as the benefit of a long and distinguished legal career in private and public service.
Mr. Vazquez began his legal career at the law offices of Michael Critchley & Associates after completing a clerkship with the Honorable Herman D. Michels of the New Jersey Appellate Division. He graduated summa cum laude from Seton Hall University School of Law and from Rutgers College. His intellect is of the highest order. He would bring a long and distinguished career to the District of New Jersey bench if and when he is confirmed. He is currently a partner at Critchley, Kinum
& Vazquez, practicing commercial, securities, and civil litigation, as well as white collar criminal defense.
Before his time in private practice, he served the people of New Jersey in the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General as the first assistant attorney general. As the second highest ranking law enforcement official in the State, Mr. Vazquez conducted the day-to-day operations of the 9,500-person department and various divisions within the department, including criminal justice, consumer affairs, civil rights, elections, and gaming enforcement divisions, to mention a few. He previously served in that particular office as a special assistant to the attorney general. Before that he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, where he focused on health care fraud, securities fraud, and terrorism investigations. These experiences have given him a clear appreciation of the separation of powers, the importance of checks and balances, and I believe he will bring that view to the bench.
The American Bar Association rated him unanimously ``well qualified'' for the nomination, and I agree. He was voted out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously. When I think about the breadth and scope of what comes before a Federal district court judge, I can only think about the breadth and scope of his experience. He understands both sides of the legal equation--the prosecution and defense of the accused. He is a member of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, the Essex County Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey, and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey.
Mr. President, I can say without equivocation that justice does indeed reside in the heart and soul of John Vazquez. He is an eminently qualified nominee with impressive credentials and experience who will fill a judicial emergency vacancy in the District of New Jersey. In addition to intellect, judgment, temperament, observance of the rule of law, and separation of powers, he diversifies our judiciary as a Hispanic American, which is something I think is also very important--
to be able to have any American walk into any court in the land and believe the possibility that someone like them may very well be sitting in judgment of them. When you have all the elements of what we want in the Federal judiciary and we are able to achieve that element of diversity as well, I think it is the highest moment.
I urge the Senate to unanimously support him, and I yield the floor.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I yield back all time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Vazquez nomination?
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Corker), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Flake), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio), and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Sasse).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Daines). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 84, nays 2, as follows:
YEAS--84
AyotteBaldwinBarrassoBennetBlumenthalBluntBookerBoozmanBrownBurrCantwellCapitoCardinCarperCaseyCassidyCoatsCochranCollinsCoonsCornynCottonCrapoDainesDonnellyDurbinEnziErnstFeinsteinFischerFrankenGardnerGillibrandGrahamGrassleyHatchHeinrichHeitkampHellerHironoHoevenJohnsonKaineKingKirkKlobucharLeeManchinMarkeyMcCainMcCaskillMcConnellMenendezMerkleyMoranMurkowskiMurphyMurrayPaulPerduePetersPortmanReedReidRischRobertsRoundsSchatzSchumerScottSessionsShaheenShelbyTesterThuneTillisToomeyUdallVitterWarnerWarrenWhitehouseWickerWyden
NAYS--2
LankfordSullivan
NOT VOTING--14
AlexanderBoxerCorkerCruzFlakeInhofeIsaksonLeahyMikulskiNelsonRubioSandersSasseStabenow
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Under the previous order, the President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
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