[Pages S10050-S10052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate
immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following
nominations on the Executive Calendar: No. 108, No. 256, No. 257, No.
260 through 262, No. 278 and No. 290 through 303, all nominations on
the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps,
Navy and the Public Health Service.
I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed,
the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, any statements relating
to the nominations appear at this point in the Record, the President be
immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return
to legislative session.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The nominations considered and confirmed en bloc are as follows:

inter-american foundation

Jeffrey Davidow, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior
Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be a Member
of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation,
for a term expiring September 20, 2002.

the judiciary

Marjorie O. Rendell, of Pennsylvania, to be U.S. Circuit
Judge for the Third Circuit.
Richard A. Lazzara, of Florida, to be U.S. District Judge
for the Middle District of Florida.

department of commerce

Robert L. Mallett, of Texas, to be Deputy Secretary of
Commerce.
W. Scott Gould, of the District of Columbia, to be Chief
Financial Officer, Department of Commerce.
W. Scott Gould, of the District of Columbia, to be an
Assistant Secretary of Commerce.

inter-american foundation

Nancy Dorn, of the District of Columbia, to be Member of
the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation for a
term expiring June 26, 2002.

in the army

The following U.S. Army Reserve officer for promotion in
the Reserve of the Army to the grade indicated under title
10, United States Code, sections 14101, 14315 and 12203(a):

To be brigadier general

Col. James W. Comstock, 0000

The following-named officer for appointment in the Regular
Army to be the grade indicated under title 10, United States
Code, section 624:

To be brigadier general

Col. Antonio M. Taguba, 0000

The following-named officers for appointment in the U.S.
Army to the grade indicated under title 10, United States
Code, section 624:

To be major general

Brig. Gen. John G. Meyer, Jr., 0000
Brig. Gen. Robert L. Nabors, 0000

The following-named officer for appointment in the U.S.
Army to the grade indicated under the provisions of title 10,
United States Code, section 624:

To be major general

Maj. Gen. Robert G. Claypool, 0000

The following Army National Guard of the United States
officers for appointment in the Reserve of the Army to the
grade indicated under title 10, United States Code, section
12203:

To be major general

Brig. Gen. Earl L. Adams, 0000
Brig. Gen. John E. Blair, 0000
Brig. Gen. James G. Blaney, 0000
Brig. Gen. Don C. Morrow, 0000
Brig. Gen. Thomas E. Whitecotton III, 0000
Brig. Gen. Jackie D. Wood, 0000

To be brigadier general

Col. Stephen E. Arey, 0000
Col. George A. Buskirk, Jr., 0000
Col. William A. Cugno, 0000
Col. Joseph A. Goode, Jr., 0000
Col. Stanley J. Gordon, 0000
Col. Larry W. Haltom, 0000
Col. Daniel E. Long, Jr., 0000
Col. Gerald P. Minetti, 0000
Col. Ronald G. Young, 0000

The following-named officer for appointment in the U.S.
Army to the grade indicated while assigned to a position of
importance and responsibility under title 10, United States
Code, section 601:

To be lieutenant general

Lt. Gen. George A. Fisher, 0000

The following-named officer for appointment in the U.S.
Army to the grade indicated while assigned to a position of
importance and responsibility under title 10, United States
Code, section 601:

To be lieutenant general

Maj. Gen. William J. Bolt, 0000

The following-named officer for appointment in the U.S.
Army to the grade indicated under title 10, United States
Code, section 624:

To be brigadier general

Col. Henry W. Stratman, 0000

in the marine corps

The following-named officer for appointment in the U.S.
Marine Corps to the grade indicated while assigned to a
position of importance and responsibility under title 10,
United States Code, section 601:

To be lieutenant general

Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, 0000

in the navy

The following-named officer for appointment in the U.S.
Navy to the grade indicated under title 10, United States
Code, section 624:

[[Page S10051]]

To be rear admiral

Rear Adm. (lh) Louis M. Smith, 0000

The following-named officers for appointment in the Naval
Reserve to the grade indicated under title 10, United States
Code, section 12203:

To be rear admiral (lower half)

Capt. Kenneth C. Belisle, 0000
Capt. John G. Cotton, 0000
Capt. Stephen S. Israel, 0000
Capt. Gerald J. Scott, Jr., 0000
Capt. Joe S. Thompson, 0000

The following-named officers for appointment in the Reserve
of the Navy to the grade indicated under title 10, United
States Code, section 12203:

To be rear admiral (lower half)

Capt. Howard W. Dawson, Jr., 0000
Capt. William J. Lynch, 0000
Capt. Robert R. Percy, III, 0000

The following-named officer for appointment as Deputy Judge
Advocate General of the U.S. Navy in the grade indicated
under title 10, United States Code, section 5149:

To be rear admiral

Capt. Donald J. Guter, 0000

The following-named officer for appointment in the U.S.
Navy to the grade indicated under title 10, United States
Code, section 624:

To be rear admiral (lower half)

Capt. William W. Cobb, Jr., 0000

IN THE AIR FORCE, ARMY, COAST GUARD, MARINE CORPS, NAVY, PUBLIC HEALTH
SERVICE

Air Force nominations beginning Richard W. Aldrich, and
ending Frank A. Yerkes, Jr, which nominations were received
by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
July 29, 1997.
Air Force nominations beginning Luis C. Arroyo, and ending
Michael R. Emerson, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of July 31,
1997.
Air Force nominations beginning James M. Bartlett, and
ending Ellis D. Dinsmore, which nominations were received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of July
31, 1997.
Air Force nomination of Robert J. Spermo, which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 3, 1997.
Air Force nominations beginning Carl M. Gough, and ending
Samuel Strauss, which nominations were received by the Senate
and appeared in the Congressional Record of September, 3,
1997.
Air Force nominations beginning Joseph Argyle, and ending
Michael D. Eller, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
3, 1997.
Air Force nominations beginning Arnold K. Abangan, and
ending Darren L. Zwolinski, which nominations were received
by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 3, 1997.
Army nomination of Frank G. Whitehead, which was received
by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
July 31, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Mary A. Allred, and ending James
R. Tinkham, which nominations were received by the Senate and
appeared in the Congressional Record of July 31, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Robert C. Baker, and ending
James R. Wooten, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of July 31,
1997.
Army nominations beginning Edwin E. Ahl, and ending Mark A.
Zerger, which nominations were received by the Senate and
appeared in the Congressional Record of July 31, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Christian F. Achleithner, and
ending Daniel A. Zeleski, which nominations were received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of July
31, 1997.
Army nomination of Shri Kant Mishra, which was received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 3, 1997.
Army nomination of David S. Feigin, which was received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 3, 1997.
Army nomination of Clyde A. Moore, which was received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 3, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Terry A. Wikstrom, and ending
Richard C. Butler, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
3, 1997.
Army nomination of James H. Wilson, which was received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 3, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Ellis E. Brumraugh, Jr., and
ending John C. Zimmerman, which nominations were received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 3, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Graten D. Beavers, and ending
John E. Zupko, which nominations were received by the Senate
and appeared in the Congressional Record of September 3,
1997.
Army nominations beginning James L. Atkins, and ending
Scott Wilkinson, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
3, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Frank J. Abbott, and ending
X0383, which nominations were received by the Senate and
appeared in the Congressional Record of September 3, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Madelfia A. Abb, and ending
X0663, which nominations were received by the Senate and
appeared in the Congressional Record of September 3, 1997.
Army nominations of Rafael Lara, Jr., which was received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 15, 1997.
Army nominations beginning Morris F. Adams, Jr, and ending
George W. Wilson, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
15 1997.
Army nominations beginning Cynthia A. Abbott, and ending
Anthony W. Young, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
15, 1997.
Coast Guard nominations beginning Michael F. Holmes, and
ending Beverly G. Kelley, which nominations were received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 3, 1997.
Coast Guard nominations beginning Stephen E. Flynn, and
ending Vincent Wilczynski, which nominations were received by
the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of
September 15, 1997.
Coast Guard nominations beginning Frank M. Paskewich, and
ending Robert M. Pyle, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
15, 1997.
Coast Guard nominations beginning Steven C. Acosta, and
ending Marc A. Zlomek, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
18, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of Franklin D. McKinney, Jr., which
was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of July 29, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of William C. Johnson, which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 3, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of Tony Weckerling, which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 3, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of Jeffrey E. Lister, which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 3, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of Harry Davis, Jr., which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 3, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of Michael D. Dahl, which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 3, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of James C. Clark, which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 3, 1997.
Marine Corps nomination of John C. Kotruch, which was
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 15, 1997.
Navy nominations beginning Lawrence E. Adler, and ending
Thomas A. Zimmerman, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
3, 1997.
Navy nominations beginning David M. Belt, Jr., and ending
Gene P. Theriot, which nominations were received by the
Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record of September
15, 1997.
Navy nominations beginning Eugene M. Abler, and ending Eric
A. Zoehrer, which nominations were received by the Senate and
appeared in the Congressional Record of September 15, 1997.
Public Health Service nominations beginning Jennifer L.
Betts, and ending Rebecca J. Werner, which nominations were
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 4, 1997.
Public Health Service nominations beginning William E.
Halperin, and ending Trinh K. Nguyen, which nominations were
received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional
Record of September 12, 1997.

STATEMENT ON THE NOMINATIONS OF MARJORIE O. RENDELL AND RICHARD A.
LAZZARA

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am delighted to see two more hostages
released by the Republican majority to serve the American people as
Federal judges.
Anticipation of the President's radio address on the judicial vacancy
crisis has obviously reached the Senate. I expect even those who have
spent so much time this year holding up the confirmations of Federal
judges were uncomfortable defending this Senate's record of having
proceeded on only 9 of the 61 nominees received through August of this
year. As rumors of the President's impending address have circulated
around Capitol Hill, this Senate has literally doubled its
confirmations from 9 to 18 in the course of 23 days. That demonstrates
just how low the Senate's output has been over the first 8 months of
this year. With these two confirmations, the Senate will have finally
achieved the snail-like pace of confirming two judges a month while
still faced with almost 100 vacancies.

[[Page S10052]]

Unfortunately, the Republican leadership has once again chosen to
skip over the nomination of Margaret Morrow and that of Christina
Snyder who have been nominated to be district court judges in the
Central District of California. As I detailed again yesterday, Ms.
Morrow has been the victim of a mysterious hold for months.
Marjorie Rendell has been a fine district court judge since 1994.
President Clinton nominated her to a seat on the Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit on the first day of this session. At the time, I
could not have imagined that it would take nine months for the
Judiciary Committee to accord her a hearing and report her nomination
to the Senate. Senator Specter and Senator Biden are both to be
commended for pressing their efforts to have this nomination
considered. Indeed, Senator Specter ultimately chaired her confirmation
hearing.
Judge Rendell received the ABA's highest rating of well qualified for
appointment to the third circuit. She has been active in the Visiting
Nurse Association of Greater Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Bar
Foundation and active in the community. Senator Kennedy described her
career as ``one of great distinction and insight.'' Even Senator
Sessions concurred that Judge Rendell ``was a very impressive
witness.''
The good news is that her confirmation fills a vacancy on the third
circuit, the bad news is that it creates a vacancy on the district
court at a time when it is taking far too long to confirm good
nominees.
I congratulate Judge Rendell and her family and look forward to her
service on the third circuit.
I am delighted to see the Senate moving forward with the nomination
of Richard Lazzara to be a Federal judge in the Middle District of
Florida. The Senate first received this nomination in early May 1996,
over 16 months ago. It should not have taken us this long to get to
this point.
I know that the chief judge in that district, Elizabeth Kovachevich,
has been speaking out about the workload, backlogs and vacancies in her
court. Judge Kovachevich has noted that serious crimes are up 28
percent in her district and civil filings are up 25 percent for the
second straight year leading to a growing backlog of over 3,200 cases.
Both Senator Graham and Senator Mack were strong supporters of this
nominee at his hearing in early September. I was struck that Senator
Mack called the situation one of ``crisis proportions'' and pointed out
that the district is having to take unprecedented steps to deal with a
backlog growing ``at an alarming proportion.''
I have introduced legislation recommended by the Judicial Conference
of the United States to add three additional judges for that district,
but their needs remain unaddressed because that bill has not received
the attention that it deserves.
Filling this vacancy without further delay is a start. The people of
Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tampa have had to wait a long time for judge
Lazzara. This nominee received the highest rating possible from the
American Bar Association. He is an experienced Judge, having served as
a Florida County judge, a Florida circuit judge and a Florida appellate
judge over the last 10 years.
I congratulate Judge Lazzara and his family and look forward to his
service on the Federal Court.
With Senate confirmation of these two judges, the Senate continues to
lag well behind the pace established by Majority Leader Dole and
Chairman Hatch in the 104th Congress. By this time 2 years ago, the
Senate had confirmed 36 Federal judges. With today's actions, the
Senate will have confirmed one-half that number, only 18 judges. We
still face almost 100 vacancies and have over 50 pending nominees to
consider with more arriving each week.
For purposes of perspective, let us also recall that by the end of
September 1992, during the last year of President Bush's term, a
Democratic majority in the Senate had confirmed 59 of the 72 nominees
sent to us by a Republican President. This Senate is on pace to confirm
less than one-third of a comparable number of nominations.
We still have more than 47 nominees among the 69 nominations sent to
the Senate by the President pending before the Judiciary Committee who
have yet to be accorded even a hearing during this Congress. Many of
these nominations have been pending since the very first day of this
session, having been re-nominated by the President. Several of those
pending before the committee had hearings or were reported favorably
last Congress but have been passed over so far this year, while the
vacancies for which they were nominated over 2 years ago persist. The
Committee has 10 nominees who have been pending for more than a year,
including 5 who have been pending since 1995.
While I am encouraged that the Senate is today proceeding with the
confirmations of Judge Rendell and Mr. Lazzara, there remains no excuse
for the Committee's delay in considering the nominations of such
outstanding individuals as Prof. William A. Fletcher, Judge James A.
Beaty, Jr., Judge Richard A. Paez, Ms. M. Margaret McKeown, Ms. Ann L.
Aiken, and Ms. Susan Oki Mollway, to name just a few of the outstanding
nominees who have all been pending all year without so much as a
hearing. Professor Fletcher and Ms. Mollway had both been favorably
reported last year. Judge Paez and Ms. Aiken had hearings last year but
have been passed over so far this year. Nor is there any explanation or
excuse for the Senate not immediately proceeding to consider the other
five judicial nominations pending on the Senate calendar.
Those who delay or prevent the filling of these vacancies must
understand that they are delaying or preventing the administration of
justice. We can pass all the crime bills we want, but you cannot try
the cases and incarcerate the guilty if you do not have judges. The
mounting backlogs of civil and criminal cases in the dozens of
emergency districts, in particular, are growing taller by the day.
National Public Radio has been running a series of reports all this
week on the judicial crises and quoted the chief judge and U.S.
attorney from San Diego earlier this week to the effect that criminal
matters are being affected.
I have spoken about the crisis being created by the vacancies that
are being perpetuated on the Federal courts around the country. At the
rate that we are going, we are not keeping up with attrition. When we
adjourned last Congress there were 64 vacancies on the Federal bench.
After the confirmation of 18 judges in 9 months, there has been a net
increase of 30 vacancies, an increase of almost 50 percent in the
number of Federal judicial vacancies.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has called the rising number
of vacancies ``the most immediate problem we face in the federal
judiciary.'' Senator Hatch has said that we can do better. I agree with
them and add that we must do better. I have urged those who have been
stalling the consideration of these fine women and men to reconsider
their action and work with us to have the Senate fulfill its
constitutional responsibility.

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