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.
“Nomination of C.S. Eliot Kang (Executive Calendar)” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S1208-S1209 on March 16.
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:
Nomination of C.S. Eliot Kang
Mr. President, finally, there is a danger that Putin will unleash a chemical weapons attack against Ukraine. The Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation has a crucial role to play here, not just to prevent the spread of chemical weapons but to help safeguard all nuclear materials and facilities in Ukraine. To do this, the nominee to be Assistant Secretary for that Bureau--International Security and Nonproliferation--Dr. Eliot Kang, would work with the Ukrainian Government, our allies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. But because of Republican delays, he has not yet been confirmed, despite the fact that he was nominated 328 days ago--328 days ago. Think about that. That was almost a year ago, and he has not yet been confirmed.
Because we cannot wait, because the people of Ukraine cannot wait, I rise to seek unanimous consent for the confirmation of these four nominees. Each of them moved through the Foreign Relations Committee with bipartisan support. There is no reason for Republicans to block their confirmation. The situation in Ukraine is dire, and our national security demands it.
Because of that, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 462, 783, and 784; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the Biden administration has failed to properly oversee the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO. President Biden and Secretary Blinken know that PAHO has cooperated with the communist regime in Cuba to traffic doctors overseas, and they know that there are Cuban doctors who are trying to sue PAHO and hold their traffickers accountable.
Here are the facts: In July 2013, the Cuban Ministry of Health signed an agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Health to formalize an arrangement for Cuban doctors to provide medical services in Brazil. That agreement required the administration of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to transmit a monthly payment through PAHO to the Cuban Ministry of Health for the medical services provided by each Cuban doctor serving in Brazil. It also prevented Cuban doctors from seeking employment in Brazil outside of the formal structure of the agreement.
More than 20,000 Cuban medical professionals serving in Brazil under the Mais Medicos Program had their wages stolen by the Cuban Government and received only a small fraction of what they earned. Their family members were prohibited from accompanying them, and many had their passports confiscated.
Cuban doctors were the only medical professionals participating in the Mais Medicos Program who had their salaries directly garnished by their government. Meanwhile, doctors from other countries serving in Brazil received the full wages for their medical services.
Other Cuban doctors suffered similar abuses in Angola, Guatemala, Mexico, Qatar, and Venezuela. For example, in 2019, a group of Cuban doctors reported that they had been directed and often coerced to use their medical services to influence votes in favor of the Maduro regime, including by denying medical treatment to opposition supporters and by giving precise voting instructions to elderly patients.
This gross program is a huge moneymaker for the communist ruling thugs in Cuba. In 2018 alone, they deposited more than $6.3 billion from exporting Cuban professionals to work overseas, and medical missions by Cuban doctors represent a majority of those profits.
Since I came to the Senate in 2019, I have been fighting for these Cuban doctors and against human trafficking. I know my colleague from New Jersey has also voiced concerns about this issue in the past, but nothing has been done to hold PAHO accountable. PAHO is hiding behind legal immunity. President Biden has the power to lift their immunity, and I have requested this administration to do so multiple times, but they have shamefully declined.
It is wrong. Victims of trafficking deserve to see their alleged abusers in court, and PAHO should never be able to hide behind claims of immunity to avoid accountability for their role in facilitating those abuses.
I have informed Secretary Blinken that until substantial steps toward fulfilling this request are made, I will be blocking all relevant State Department nominees.
Americans deserve qualified and competent people in positions of power who put American interests first. If this administration wants to appease dictators, like they have with the Castro and Diaz-Canal regimes, I am going to hold them accountable.
Therefore, Madam President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). Objection is heard.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I would like to ask the Senator from Florida, through the Chair, does the Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia at USAID have anything to do with PAHO?
Does the Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation have anything to do with PAHO?
I guess the Senator doesn't want to engage in a colloquy.
Madam President, it is amazing to me. My colleagues who get up and applaud Zelenskyy, my colleagues who come to the Senate floor and talk about both the need to help Ukraine and the humanitarian realities that are compounding every day--and yet here we are with four pertinent, key positions that could help in regard to each and every one of those elements, and on some unrelated issue, not Ukraine, not even Europe, not about proliferation, not about humanitarian response, no, there is a wholesale objection.
Now, if you wanted to pick your objection and target it, that might make sense, but I am deeply troubled that the junior Senator from Florida is once again obstructing the Senate's responsibility to provide advice and consent on Presidential nominations, not only preventing us from fulfilling our constitutional duties, but in this case, moreover, he is singlehandedly undermining the ability of the U.S. Government to respond fully to Russia's brutal invasion. In doing so, he seeks to singlehandedly damage our ability to ensure a coordinated international effort to sanction Putin, his cronies, sectors of the Russian Government.
He is undercutting the U.S. Government's ability to support the Ukrainian people and our allies. He is undercutting our ability to provide and coordinate the humanitarian assistance for 3 million Ukrainians who have left and millions more who are inside the country and need help. It is mind-boggling--mind boggling. Get up, (applauds) and then come to the floor and object to the very things that can make it happen. Mind-boggling.
Now, let me address the issue that the junior Senator from Florida has raised here today--the Cuban regime's trafficking of doctors and medical personnel. Simply put, the Diaz-Canel regime, like the Castro regime before it, does subject Cuban doctors to forced labor schemes abroad while pocketing the doctors' wages in profit-making schemes that generate billions of dollars annually.
Now, I have been working on this issue since before my colleague ever held public office. I have engaged multiple administrations on this issue. I have actually authored legislation and resolutions on the subject. So my track record for standing up for Cuban doctors who are trafficked by the Cuban regime eclipses that of any other Member of Congress, period. But, my God, as passionate as I am about that issue--
no one would be more passionate than me--it is not right to hold up everything we are trying to do on Ukraine.
This is a global emergency. The fate of not only Ukraine but of democracy and its ability to achieve victory is under threat. And here we have objections to critical positions that can help us make sure that we win in that battle.
