[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 130 (Wednesday, August 3, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





             UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the nomination 
of Robert Gordon. Earlier this year, Mr. Gordon had strong bipartisan 
support in the Finance Committee when his nomination came to a vote. 
Mr. Gordon is President Biden's nominee to serve as the Department of 
Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources, 
and he has a long history of dedication to public service.
  More recently, he served as director of the Department of Health and 
Human Services for the State of Michigan. He played a central role in 
the State's pandemic response and managed an agency of 14,000 employees 
and a multibillion-dollar budget.
  Before that, he held senior roles in the U.S. Department of Education 
and the Office of Management and Budget, where he championed evidence-
based policymaking to use taxpayer dollars wisely.
  Earlier in his career, Mr. Gordon served as a senior official at the 
New York City Department of Education. He was a senior aide on Capitol 
Hill, a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a White House 
aide.
  In his time at the White House, he supported the development of the 
AmeriCorps program.
  In his long career in public service, he has worked to ensure that 
government programs work for those they serve and that they do so 
through responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Such experience is 
essential to the work of the Assistant Secretary for Financial 
Resources at the Department of Health and Human Services.
  HHS has responsibility for critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid, 
and the Children's Health Insurance Program, just to name a few. The 
Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources must ensure that these 
programs and many others under the umbrella of the Department remain 
strong for future generations.
  I ask unanimous consent that, as if in executive session, the Senate 
consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 762, Robert Michael 
Gordon, to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services; that 
the Senate vote on the nomination, without intervening action or 
debate; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table and that the President be immediately notified 
of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, since last 
year, I have been asking for a commitment from my Democratic colleagues 
that any future reconciliation legislation in this Congress will not 
incorporate policies that will reduce access to care in nonexpansion 
States, such as Tennessee.
  Specifically, my concern is that the reconciliation legislation that 
the House of Representatives passed last fall, which is the very 
vehicle for the reconciliation bill currently being discussed in the 
Senate, included provisions that cut DSH and uncompensated care pool 
payments for nonexpansion States. This would result in less healthcare 
for vulnerable populations in my State, it would accelerate hospital 
closures, and it would disadvantage rural communities. These are places 
and populations for which we are trying to secure more quality 
healthcare, not less.
  Because I still have not received confirmation that these provisions 
will not be included in the final text of the partisan reconciliation 
bill, I cannot consent to expediting confirmation of this nominee and, 
therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I want to respond, at least preliminarily, 
to my friend from Tennessee. I appreciate his advocacy for hospitals in 
his home State of Tennessee. So given that he is seeking this assurance 
about these disproportionate share hospital payments, my understanding 
is that the reconciliation bill we are about to consider this week does 
not contain any provisions that are directly relevant and any provision 
that would impact these disproportionate share hospitals or 
uncompensated care pool funding.
  So given that and given that he is seeking this specific assurance 
about the pending reconciliation bill--and I think it is evident or 
will become evident that the bill does not contain these DSH provisions 
or uncompensated care payment cuts--I would ask him just this question, 
if he would entertain this question: If the Senate does pass a 
reconciliation bill, which I hope will be by the end of this week, and 
that bill is then subsequently enacted into law, will he lift his 
objection and allow this and other relevant HHS nominations to be 
confirmed by unanimous consent?

  Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I would like to respond to my friend from 
Pennsylvania.
  That is a very reasonable request. We are getting ready to go through 
a process of which I have not yet seen the text--an amendment process 
that is hard to anticipate--and dread to think that there would be 
another wraparound, that that could happen as well. But assuming that 
we get to an end point and this language that I have discussed is not 
in the bill--the same language that the House included is not in this 
bill--I would be more than happy to lift my objection.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.

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