Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Action To Advance Historic And Critical Nominations This Week

Washington, D.C.– Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor highlighting this week’s upcoming action on critical nominations. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

After voting to avoid default last week, the Senate will focus this week on advancing more of President Biden’s key administrative and judicial nominees.

Later today, the Senate will vote to advance the nomination of David Crane to be Undersecretary for Infrastructure at the Department of Energy.

The Undersecretary for Infrastructure is a new role at the DOE, created by the Biden Administration and charged with implementing the historic clean energy investments made in our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Once confirmed, Mr. Crane’s job will be ensuring our infrastructure dollars translate to lower energy costs, new clean energy manufacturing jobs, and a more resilient energy grid.

Mr. Crane received bipartisan support in the ENR Committee, and I expect that bipartisan support to carry on to the floor.

Also this week, the Senate will advance the nomination of Dilawar Syed to serve as second in command at the SBA, the Small Business Administration.

Mr. Syed is the definition of a highly qualified nominee: his nomination is supported by a broad range of business stakeholders, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and he will have the crucial task of helping tens of millions of small businesses get the resources they need to grow their operations.

The SBA has not had a Senate-confirmed Deputy for more than five years, and Mr. Syed is one of the longest pending nominees in the Senate. So I am exceedingly pleased this qualified nominee is now moving forward.

And if confirmed, Mr. Syed will also add to the diversity of President Biden’s Administration by serving as the highest-ranking Muslim official in the Administration.

Finally, this week we’ll begin considering the nomination of Dale Ho to serve as a District Judge for the Southern District of New York.

It’s shaping up to be another busy week in the Senate, and I thank my colleagues for their good work.

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