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.
“Unanimous Consent Requests (Executive Session)” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S8939-S8941 on Dec. 7.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Unanimous Consent Requests
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise in support of the nomination of Rufus Gifford to be Chief of Protocol with the rank of Ambassador.
Rufus, a native son of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, transitioned to a career in public service after a very successful career in the private sector.
In 2013, President Obama nominated Rufus to be U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, and he was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
In Copenhagen, Rufus was the headliner in a reality TV show, ``I Am the Ambassador.'' The show's innovative approach to public diplomacy gave Danish viewers, particularly young people, an all-access pass into the life of a U.S. Ambassador and the U.S. diplomatic presence in the country. In a country of just 5 million people, 200,000 Danes tuned in to see how the U.S. Ambassador advanced his country's core interests. One Danish viewer said that ``it is the type of show you would watch with your mother-in-law, and she would say, oh, he is a lovely man, that Rufus Gifford.''
Rufus's effusive personality makes him the perfect choice for this new role as Chief of Protocol. In Copenhagen, Denmark, Rufus opened the Ambassador's residence to thousands of visitors. As Chief of Protocol, he will once again play host to foreign dignitaries at the White House and Blair House. His hand will be the first outstretched to greet a Prime Minister, President, or Monarch at a time when diplomacy is most needed.
Ambassador Gifford was unanimously confirmed by this body in 2013 and was unanimously reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 4 months ago. I ask unanimous consent that Ambassador Gifford once again earn the support of the full Senate and be confirmed as Chief of Protocol with the rank of Ambassador.
I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following nomination: Calendar No. 320, Rufus Gifford, of Massachusetts, to be Chief of Protocol, and to have the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service; that the nomination be confirmed; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order on the nomination and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CRUZ. Reserving the right to object, the Senators in this Chamber, including Senator Markey, know precisely why I have a hold on this nominee.
Right now, as we speak, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are amassed on the border of Ukraine waiting to invade. This calamitous foreign policy disaster is Joe Biden's fault. This is the direct consequence of Joe Biden's surrender to Vladimir Putin on Nord Stream 2. What is Nord Stream 2? It is a pipeline being constructed from Russia to Germany to carry natural gas. Putin is building Nord Stream 2. Why? To go around Ukraine because right now Russian gas goes through Ukraine.
Putin didn't just wake up recently and decide to invade Ukraine; he has wanted to invade Ukraine for years. He did so in 2014, but he stopped short of full invasion. Why? Because the Ukrainian energy infrastructure was necessary to get the Russian gas to market. Nord Stream 2 is all about building an alternative avenue to get the Russian gas to Europe, so then the Russian tanks can ride into Ukraine.
We had a bipartisan victory. Indeed, the Senator from Massachusetts supported my bipartisan legislation sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline in December of 2019. When President Trump signed that bipartisan legislation into law, Nord Stream 2 was halted that day. Not the next day, not the next week, not the next month--that day, the pipeline shut down. We had won a major, bipartisan foreign policy victory. We had stopped Russia. We had stopped Putin.
That pipeline remained dormant for over a year--a hunk of metal at the bottom of the ocean--until Joe Biden arrived at the White House. Joe Biden was sworn into office on January 20, 2021. Four days later, January 24, Putin began building the pipeline again--4 days later. Why? Because the Biden White House made the decision to waive the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and to give Vladimir Putin a multibillion-dollar gift for generations to come and in doing so, to set the stage for the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
When Biden waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2, Ukraine and Poland both said that it was creating a security crisis in Europe, that it was increasing dramatically the chances that Russia would invade Ukraine. This invasion that we are facing the very real prospect of is Joe Biden's fault. But do you know what? It is also the fault of Senate Democrats.
For 2 years, we had bipartisan agreement to stop Nord Stream 2, and we succeeded. When there was a Republican President in office, Donald Trump, I and other Republicans were perfectly willing to hold President Trump to account, to press him to stand up against Nord Stream 2, and he did.
As soon as a Democrat got into the White House, our Democratic colleagues decided that partisan loyalty was more important than national security, that partisan loyalty to the Democratic Party was more important than standing up to Russia, was more important than defending Ukraine. So, suddenly, we have seen the Democrats in this Chamber bending over backward to avoid stopping Nord Stream 2.
I want to be very clear. There is a lot of discussion about Joe Biden having a phone call with Putin today. Well, that phone call is real nice, but it is not going to stop an invasion. I will tell you what will stop an invasion. Joe Biden could stop the invasion today by simply following the law and sanctioning Nord Stream 2.
This body could make a major step today to prevent war in Europe, to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine right now, by doing what Democrats and Republicans had agreed to do, had done together until Biden surrendered to Russia. We can do that by passing legislation that I have pending at the desk that would sanction Nord Stream 2, that would stop the project, which would mean Russia would remain dependent on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. For the same reason Russia didn't continue to invade in 2014, it would stop the invasion. We can do that right now.
Accordingly, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3322, which is at the desk. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there an objection to the modification?
Mr. MARKEY. Reserving the right to object, Senator Cruz knows that the Democrats have offered the Republicans--offered him a vote on Nord Stream 2 as part of consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act. His own colleagues are the ones who objected to a vote being held on the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline as part of that agreement that was generously offered by the Democrats to the Republicans.
The problem is not on this side; the problem is on the side of the Senator from Texas. Yet he continues to hold up dozens of State Department officials, many of them career officials who should be on their jobs around the world right now.
Ultimately, right now, the onus lies on the Republican side for not having a vote on the subject that the Senator from Texas has raised, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline; therefore, I object to the motion from the gentleman from Texas.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection to the modification is heard.
Is there objection to the original request?
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would note that what we just heard was Democrats in this Chamber objecting to sanctioning Nord Stream 2. It is worth understanding what that means. It means that Senate Democrats prioritize political loyalty to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris more than they do standing up to Vladimir Putin.
A month or two from now, if, God forbid, we see Russian tanks moving into Ukraine, remember this moment where Senate Democrats objected and said: No, we won't sanction the pipeline. We won't save Ukraine. We won't stand up to Russia.
You know, the whole country endured Democrats going on and on and on for 4 years--``Russia, Russia, Russia''--and someone who didn't follow politics closely could be forgiven if they actually believed the rhetoric from the Democrats. But it turns out that by saying ``Russia, Russia, Russia,'' what they really meant was ``We hate Donald Trump'' because when it comes to standing up to Russia, for decades, Democrats had shown weakness and appeasement to the Soviet Union. As soon as Donald Trump was gone, we see Democrats going back to weakness and appeasement to Russia again.
The Russian troops on the Ukrainian border are Joe Biden's fault and they are Senate Democrats' fault for being unwilling to stand up to a President of their own party.
I would note that this particular nominee is a nominee to be the head of protocol at the State Department. It is really bad protocol to drive tanks into somebody else's country.
You want to talk about protocol, how about the protocol of, let's defend American national security interests; let's defend Europe; let's defend our allies; let's stand up to a tyrannical bully named Vladimir Putin. Sadly, Democrats don't want to do that. Accordingly, I object.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The objection is heard.
Mr. MARKEY. I yield back.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). The Republican whip.
