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“Nomination of Katherine C. Tai (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Tom Cotton was published in the Senate section on pages S1541-S1542 on March 16.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Nomination of Katherine C. Tai
Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I am delighted to rise today in full support of Katherine Tai, President Biden's nominee to be our next U.S. Trade Representative.
As my colleagues are well aware, trade is an issue that impacts every corner of our country and, indeed, every corner of our globe. Roughly 75 percent--listen to this--75 percent of the world's purchasing power and over 95 percent of the world's consumers lie outside of our country's borders. If the United States is going to continue to be successful, we need to be able to tap into those markets and expand trading opportunities while ensuring a level playing field for American businesses and, I might say, for American consumers as well.
In Delaware, the First State, and throughout our Nation, trade policies affect how American businesses, both large and small--be they financial services, tech companies, workers, farmers, manufacturers--
can compete in the global economy. But thanks to President Trump's haphazard trade wars over the last 4 years, American farmers, manufacturers, producers, and consumers too often have been left hanging in the balance--a situation that has been exasperated by this pandemic.
Now more than ever, all of them are in need of greater certainty and predictability. For the last 30, 40 years that I have served as Delaware's Treasurer, Congressman, Governor, and Senator, when I ask businesses what they want or need, more often than not, they say
``certainty and predictability.'' For the last 4 years, we have had too little of both.
Instead of the chaotic approach of the last 4 years, we need strategic and thoughtful trade policies. That is why President Biden has nominated Katherine Tai, an experienced public servant and trade expert, to serve as our Nation's top trade official. Katherine will be a steady hand at the U.S. Trade Rep's Office, and as a key member of the Biden administration, she will make sure that our trade policies benefit all Americans and leave no one behind. She will work hard to help jump-start our economy and ensure that American goods and services can reach international markets and that we can compete on a level playing field.
Katherine comes to this role with an exceptional breadth and depth of relevant trade expertise. She has earned a remarkable reputation as an expert in her field and is a leader who is respected by Democrats and Republicans alike in this Chamber and in the House of Representatives.
In her previous role, Katherine was chief trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee. There, she was a lead negotiator on the USMCA, U.S.-Mexico-Canada-America Trade Agreement, which notably passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, in no smart part because of her efforts.
Members of my own staff are grateful for the opportunity to work with Katherine to secure historically strong environmental provisions, including new monitoring and enforcement tools in the USMCA, which will help make sure that alleged environmental violations will be investigated and remedied in a timely manner. These new tools and resources will help ensure that environmental protections are not just words on a piece of paper but policies that will actually be put into practice and consistently maintained well into the future.
As chairman of both the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, I look forward to working with my colleagues and with Katherine Tai and her team to build on the progress that was made in the USMCA.
Another immense trade challenge that we face now is to effectively counter China's unfair trade practices and its expanding influence in international trade. Since joining the World Trade Organization, the WTO, in 2001, China has proven to be a bad actor time and again. I believe that, working with our allies in the Pacific Rim in a spirit similar to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we can more effectively ensure that China adheres to its trade commitments with us and with the rest of the world.
Katherine has the expertise to help make that happen. Her prior experience as U.S. Trade Rep's Chief Counsel for China Trade Enforcement, where she led efforts to hold China accountable at the WTO for its unfair trade practices, is going to prove to be a tremendous asset for our Nation.
We would be lucky to have Katherine Tai, a committed public servant, represent our Nation on the world stage. As a daughter of immigrants and the first woman of color to be nominated to serve as U.S. Trade Rep, Katherine often cites her parents, also both public servants, as her inspiration.
In her testimony to the Finance Committee that I serve on, Katherine said--I want to quote her. Here is what she said. Speaking of her parents, she said:
I am proud of their service to the nation that welcomed them. And I am proud to live in a country where, in just one generation, their daughter could grow up to represent the United States and our interests around the globe.
Those are her words.
I, too, am proud to serve in a country where this is possible.
Simply put, Katherine has decades of experience in trade, years of experience working in trade in a bipartisan fashion, and a keen understanding of the role Congress can play alongside the administration to implement successful trade policies.
As the world grapples with the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, it is more important now than ever to have a leader at the U.S. Trade Rep's Office who will work with Congress to advance a trade agenda that uplifts American workers in every corner of our country, spurs domestic manufacturing, and improves environmental and labor standards throughout the world.
Given Katherine's track record and many years of experience working across the aisle in Congress, I am confident that she has the broad support necessary to be a highly skilled and effective U.S. Trade Representative as she takes on the many trade challenges that we face, and I invite my colleagues to join me in voting to confirm Katherine Tai to serve as our next Trade Representative.
If I could, do I have a few more minutes to speak?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. You do
Mr. CARPER. Madam President, my legislative director is a woman named Xiao. Lucy is her first name, Lucy Xiao. She said to me several months ago, after the election--Joe Biden was elected--she said: You know, we were working on the USMCA last year. We worked with a woman who was a very senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee staff to help make sure the environmental provisions in the law are not only strong but enforceable.
She said: The woman we worked with is a top staff person on the House Ways and Means Committee. Her name is Katherine Tai.
Lucy said to me: I think that Katherine Tai might make a good U.S. Trade Rep and may make a very interesting human story as well.
I have huge respect for Lucy's judgment, and I turned around and I called on the phone the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, an old colleague from my days in the House, Richard Neal.
I said: Richard, does the name ``Katherine Tai'' mean anything to you?
He said: Oh, yes. She is a great member of my staff.
I said: She has been suggested as someone who might serve as the U.S. Trade Rep. What do you think?
He said: She would be excellent. She would be excellent.
The next call I made was to Ted Kaufman, former U.S. Senator, former chief of staff to Joe Biden for many years, and the interim Senator in this body for 2 years after Joe was elected Vice President. I called former Senator Kaufman, who was in charge of the transition for the Biden team, and I said: Ted, I think I have a good name for Trade Rep.
I explained who Katherine Tai was and her history and her work experience and what Chairman Richard Neal said about her.
I said: She might be a keeper.
A week later, he called me and he said: We are getting all kinds of great comments about Katherine Tai.
He said: You know, I think you don't always have the best judgment, Tom Carper, but I think in this case, maybe you are like a blind squirrel that occasionally finds a nugget.
And I think maybe in this case, I have, with the strong support and help of Lucy.
So that is the story. That is my Katherine Tai story. She is a keeper, and we are lucky to have her. She will succeed if confirmed. She will succeed Robert Lighthizer and Michael Froman, our immediate past two Trade Reps. Those are big shoes to fill, but she is very well prepared to fill them.
With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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