Mr. President, I come to the floor today, as I did on June 2, to urge quick action on the nomination of Hillary Tompkins to be the Solicitor in the Department of the Interior. That is an important job in this country and in the Department…
Mr. President, I come to the floor today, as I did on June 2, to urge quick action on the nomination of Hillary Tompkins to be the Solicitor in the Department of the Interior. That is an important job in this country and in the Department of the Interior, and the President has chosen well in choosing Miss Tompkins to be the Solicitor. She has broad experience in natural resource issues. She is extremely well qualified in all respects. She was chief counsel to the Governor of New Mexico, Governor Richardson, until recently, where she demonstrated her ability to lead a team of lawyers in that position and to provide sound legal counsel. So it is unclear to me why anyone would be objecting to her being approved as our Solicitor.
When I came to the floor on June 2, about 8 days ago, and talked about this subject, I asked unanimous consent that we proceed to executive session, that her nomination be confirmed, and that we advise the President of our action and the Senate go back to other business. Senator McConnell, on behalf of the Republican Members in the Senate, objected and said that--I think his specific response was they were still working on this. Let me quote him. He said:
We have not been able to get that nomination cleared yet on
this side, but we will be consulting with the Republican
colleagues, and at some point let him know whether it is
possible to go forward.
I assume the word ``him'' in that quote refers to me. At any rate, he objected. That was disappointing. But I am even more disappointed to announce or to call attention to the fact that we still are not able to clear Miss Tompkins for this important position. I think it is unfair to her, I think it is unfair to our former colleague, now Secretary of the Interior Salazar, who needs a capable person in this position. We should not be standing in the way of that occurring. I think his ability to serve the people of the country will be improved by having a good solicitor in that office and we should get on with the job of confirming that nomination.
At the time I was urging action on her nomination before, I was advised that there were two Senators who had objections. Senator Coburn had put a hold on the nominee because of concerns of one kind or another--I don't know the specifics--and I believe Senator Bunning had concerns as well. I have now been advised that both of
those Senators have withdrawn their holds and are now satisfied.
Senator Bunning had written a letter to Secretary Salazar raising concerns about coal mining and mountaintop-removal-related issues. Secretary Salazar responded to that letter on June 4. As I understand it, Senator Coburn also wrote. His letter was to Miss Tompkins, raising questions about whether she was in fact committed to enforcing the law when she was the Solicitor. She wrote him back and said she is clearly committed to enforcing the law, which of course would be part of her oath of office.
Based on those exchanges of letters, I am informed that both Senator Bunning and Senator Coburn are satisfied that her nomination can go forward at this time.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the correspondence between those two Senators and Secretary Salazar and the nominee Hillary Tompkins, following my remarks.
Those concerns have been resolved. I am not clear as to what the continued problem is, why we cannot get this nomination cleared. I raise it at this point. I put people on notice, or the Senate on notice, if we are not able to get it cleared I will once again come to the floor and ask unanimous consent later this week for us to proceed to executive session and to confirm that nomination.
I think this is a highly irregular process to just hold someone hostage for some totally unrelated concern which she has no ability to control. If there were some problem with this nominee, if there were some objection to her qualifications, clearly that would be a different matter. But as far as I know there is no objection to her qualifications. There is no problem with this nominee or any statements she has made or any action she has taken. On that ground, I think we need to move quickly to confirm her nomination. I hope my colleagues will agree and will allow that to happen later today.
I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, June 3, 2009.
Hilary Tompkins,
Department of the Interior,
Washington, DC.
Dear Ms. Tompkins, As you know, on May 22, 2009, President
Obama signed into law the Protecting Americans from Violent
Crime Act. This act was overwhelmingly approved in a
bipartisan fashion in both the Senate and the House of
Representatives as an amendment to the Credit Card
Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, and
will take effect in February, 2010.
The act states, ``The Secretary of the Interior shall not
promulgate or enforce any regulation that prohibits an
individual from possessing a firearm including an assembled
or functional firearm in any unit of the National Park System
or the National Wildlife Refuge System if--
(1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from
possessing the firearm; and
(2) the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the
law of the State in which the unit of the National Park
System or the National Wildlife Refuge System is located.''
Forty-eight states protect the rights of their residents to
carry a concealed weapon. Properly implemented, the
Protecting Americans from Violent Crime Act should, for the
first time, also protect the individual's right to carry and
possess firearms in all national parks and wildlife refuges,
in accordance with state and federal law.
As Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, will you
commit to ensuring the law is implemented in a way that
robustly protects the rights of law-abiding gun owners, as
Congress clearly intended? Will you also commit to vigorously
defend this law against hostile litigation?
Thank you for your desire to serve our great country. I
look forward to receiving your response by Friday, June 5,
2009.
Sincerely,
Tom Coburn,
U.S. Senator.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.