11.07.17
President’s Nominees Are Ready To Get To Work, McConnell Says
‘We’re currently considering men and women who have been nominated to serve in many different roles at many different agencies. The one thing they all share in common is this: They’re ready to get to work, and the sooner we confirm them the sooner they can get on the job for our country.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the need to confirm more of the president’s well-qualified nominees:
“As we all know, the Senate has been quite busy. Legislatively, we’ve been hard at work on everything from budgets to disaster relief to consumer protections to tax reform. On the nominations front, we’ve taken strong action to strengthen the judiciary, including confirming a slate of fantastic nominees in recent days. This week, we’re continuing our work to staff up the rest of the government too. This is one of the Senate’s most important functions — and it’s one we take seriously.
“We’re currently considering men and women who have been nominated to serve in many different roles at many different agencies. The one thing they all share in common is this: They’re ready to get to work, and the sooner we confirm them the sooner they can get on the job for our country.
“First, we will vote to confirm John Gibson as the Deputy Chief Management Officer at the Department of Defense. He will be responsible for increasing efficiency throughout the Department’s business operations. Afterward, the Senate will continue its consideration of Steven Engel who will, as I discussed yesterday, serve as the Deputy Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. And then, the next nomination we will consider is that of Peter Robb, to serve as the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.
“For most of its 80-year existence, the NLRB has had the important responsibility of supporting stable labor relations by acting as a fair and impartial umpire in the resolution of labor disputes. Unfortunately, that changed under the previous administration, which wielded its board majority as an anti-worker political cudgel at the behest of special interests and union bosses. Instead of the board’s historic commitment to impartially applying the law, the NLRB’s Obama-appointed Democrat majority put forward policies that diminished the rights of employees, hurt small businesses, and rewarded entrenched political elites at the expense of workers and the middle class. Thankfully, this Senate recently confirmed a new majority to the NLRB that is already beginning to undo the damage of the past eight years. Now, we have the opportunity to build upon that good work with the nomination of Mr. Robb.
“The NLRB’s general counsel is responsible for investigating cases of unfair labor practices and for advancing cases before the board and its members. Mr. Robb will fulfill these duties under the aegis of a new board majority that is returning the NLRB to its true mission once more. Labor policy is not simply some theoretical abstraction for Mr. Robb. He knows what it means to work as a hospital orderly, or a construction laborer, welder, truck driver, forklift operator, or highway sign maker — because he himself has worked in all these jobs before.
“After law school, Mr. Robb gained valuable experience in employment law. His previous leadership roles, including as an NLRB regional field attorney and chief counsel to a board member, contribute to making Mr. Robb an ideal candidate to serve as the board’s general counsel. I look forward to voting to advance his nomination, and I urge my colleagues to join me in helping restore the NLRB to the neutral umpire of labor disputes it was meant to be.”
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