the clerk: nomination, department of interior, arelia skipwith, of indiana, to be director of the united states fishing and wildlife service. mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i've spoken at length about the serious impact that democrats' impeachment obsession has had on months worth of important legislative priorities. for months republicans have been calling for bipartisan solutions to the ndaa, to the appropriations process, and more. but only in the last couple of days here in mid-december, have our democratic colleagues gotten sufficiently serious about these must-pass bills. in the meantime, while we've waited on house democrats to act, the senate has made good use of our floor time to complete the american people's business with respect to nominations. last week alone the senate confirmed two executive branch nominations and put eight impressive justerrists on federal district courts. this week we considered yet another splait of president's well-qualified nominees. today the senate will consider john -- to serve as ambassad

the clerk: nomination, department of the interior, aurelia skipwith of indiana to be director of the united states fish and wildlife service. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of aurelia skipwit of indiana to be descror of the united states fish and wildlife service, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator for louisiana. last week, mr. president, of course, was thanksgiving, a day we all set aside in america to count our blessings, and as we do that we always say to ourselves, we ought to be thankful every every day of the year for the many blessings that have been bestowed

nomination, and notwithstanding the rules of -- rule 22 the senate vote on cloture on sullivan, hahn and skipwith nominations, and if cloture is invoked, the confirmation votes occur at that time to be -- at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the democratic leader on thursday, december 12. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so madam president, it's no secret that washington democrats have been itching to im -- to impeach president trump since the moment he took the office. remember "the washington post" headline, this was on inauguration day in 2017. the campaign to impeach president trump has begun. that's "the washington post" headline on inauguration day 2017. just a few months later in april of 2017, one leading house democrat had already made up her mind. she declared she would, quote, fight every day until he's impeached. as an aside, this same snoor democrat is one of the committee chairwomen that speaker pelosi helped to lead the impeachment process. she was literally standing at the speaker's shoulder as she announced yesterday she'l

african-american history federal commission, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks arelia skipwith. deputy director daniel smith, and deputy director david vella. hampton vice mayor jimmy gray and members of the hampton city council and other special guests. on behalf of the members of the hampton city council, our city staff, and the residents of this great city, it is my honor and privilege to welcome you to point comfort, oh, point comfort, freedom's fortress, fort monroe, and now fort monroe national monument in hampton, virginia. [ applause ] today's hampton is a historic city that is 409 years old. when i greet visitors to our city, i often tell them we don't look that old because we've been burned to the ground at least twice. from almost its beginnings, hampton has been a multiethnic and multicultural city, a model for our nation, and for the world to emulate. at its founding in july 1610 there were two ethnicities and two cultures here in hampton, that of the english colonists and that of the kickitan indians. just nine years later a third culture were introduced. that of

colleagues, i worry that once confirmed, miss skipwith's forthrightness will only worsen severely in our ability to conduct oversight. miss skipwith's lack of -- questions that existed about her qualifications, her commitment to environmental conservation and if she can ethically lead the fish and wildlife service. i believe it's responsible to confirm a nominee given the serious issues, i urge my colleagues to vote no on cloture. thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: today i come to the senate floor considering as we are the nomination of a aurelia skipwith to be the director of the u.s. fish and wildlife service. the agency needs senate confirmed leadership in place. she is well qualified for serve as director -- to serve as director. she has a degree in biology from howard university, a degree in molecular genetics if perdue and a law degree from the university of kentucky. for almost three years miss skipwith has served as the department of interior's depu