Washington - US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, tonight commented on Republicans' obstruction of Mari Carmen Aponte's nomination to serve as US Ambassador to El Salvador. A 60 vote majority was required to overcome Republicans' filibuster of the motion to proceed to her consideration, but the vote failed 49-37.

Menendez said:

"It is incredibly disappointing that tonight Republicans were willing to sacrifice an eminently qualified Hispanic woman in order to score cheap political points against the administration. In the 15 months since Ambassador Aponte was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador she has established a distinguished record of success. She has impressed the diplomatic establishment with her professionalism and won the respect of parties both right and left in El Salvador, civilian and military forces, and the public and private sectors. She has fostered a strong U.S.-Salvadoran bilateral relationship and has been an advocate for American national security and democratic values.

"As a result of her advocacy, El Salvador is again a key ally in Central America and its troops are the only ones from a Latin American country fighting alongside American troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Ambassador Aponte has consistently fought efforts by Cuba and Venezuela to gain influence in Central America... and -- as a result of her negotiating skills -- the United States and El Salvador will open a new join electronic monitoring center that will be an invaluable tool in fighting transnational crime.

"Her qualifications are impeccable and her service has been honorable. As an Hispanic American, I am proud to have supported her nomination and as a member of the Senate, I am terribly disappointed that those on the other side could not recognize the benefits to America's security and foreign policy interests that her tenure has delivered, and allow Ambassador Aponte to continue serving our nation."

Earlier today, Senator Menendez spoke on the Senate floor to urge Republicans to put partisan politics aside and support Mari Carmen Aponte's nomination to be US Ambassador to El Salvador.

Below are his full remarks; click here for the video

Confirmation of Mari Carmen Aponte

Remarks by Senator Robert Menendez
As prepared for Delivery

Senate Floor - December 12, 2011

Mr. President, I've come to the floor to address the nomination of an extraordinary woman - a qualified, talented Latina woman -- to be the United States Ambassador to El Salvador.Unfortunately, some of my Republican colleagues have made Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte a target of inside the beltway politics, where the political points gained from bringing down an Administration nominee supersede the value gained from having a superior Ambassador, promoting and guarding American interests at a critical time.

Born in Puerto Rico, Ambassador Aponte became the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in 2001. She has served as a director at the National Council of La Raza and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. She has presided over the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia and the Hispanic National Bar Association. She has excelled in her field -- and won the respect of her colleagues and the diplomatic community.

Let's look at the record. Nearly two years ago, I chaired the nomination hearing for Ambassador Aponte to serve as President Obama's Ambassador in San Salvador.

At that time, one of my Republican colleagues objected to her nomination because he was not given access to her FBI file to review information about a personal relationship Ambassador Aponte had with a Cuban national some 20 years ago. Pursuant to precedent, one democrat - and one Republican reviewed her FBI file. I was the Democrat, and there was nothing - nothing -- in the file to substantiate the concerns raised by my colleagues. I take a backseat to no one when it comes to democracy in Cuba and opposing the Cuban regime or anyone who sympathizes with such a despotic regime, and I certainly would never, for a moment, let down my guard when it comes to the Castro regime...

I can assure every one of my colleagues - on both sides of the aisle -- if I had any concern that Ambassador Aponte would let her guard down or had had any questionable relationship with Cuba or the Castro regime in her background, I would not be supporting her today.

Mr. President, this is a respected American diplomat who has been on the job and has served this nation with distinction. In the 15 months since Ambassador Aponte was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador she has impressed the diplomatic establishment with her professionalism and won the respect of parties both right and left in El Salvador. She has won the respect of civilian and military forces, and she has won the respect of the public and private sectors.

She has won everyone's support and fostered a strong U.S.-Salvadoran bilateral relationship that culminated with President Barack Obama announcing El Salvador as one of four countries in the world and the only country in Latin America chosen to participate in the Partnership for Growth initiative.Most importantly, Ambassador Aponte has been an advocate for American national security and democratic values.

As a result of her advocacy, El Salvador is again a key ally in Central America and its troops are the only ones from a Latin American country fighting alongside American troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Ambassador Aponte has consistently fought efforts by Cuba and Venezuela to gain influence in Central America... and -- as a result of her negotiating skills -- the United States and El Salvador will open a new join electronic monitoring center that will be an invaluable tool in fighting transnational crime.

Mr. President, this is a record of success. It's a record of honor. It's a record of diplomatic and political distinction. It's the record of a dedicated, qualified, experienced and engaged American diplomat - a 15 month record that brought our nations together. What more could we ask? What more should we ask?

Having said that -- because of my strong belief that Ambassador Aponte is fully and uniquely qualified for this post -- during the last several months I worked with Chairman Kerry to find a way - despite Committee precedent - to allow an additional Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee to review the Ambassador's FBI file.

As a result, two Republicans - my colleague and friend from Florida, Mr. Rubio and the Senator from South Carolina, Mr. DeMint -- were able to review her file. Since the concern had been not having access to her file, we presumed that, once they reviewed, they would lift their objections and allow a vote on her nomination. Why? Because there is nothing in that file that would indicate otherwise.

But we were wrong. It wasn't about the file. That appeared to be just a delay tactic.

The opposition to Ms. Aponte's nomination turned out to be about one thing and one thing only --- politics. Our good faith effort to provide full access to information and address concerns about Ms. Aponte was summarily dismissed.

At her nomination hearing in November, Republican members of the Committee raised a new concern -- an editorial penned by Ambassador Aponte on tolerance and non-violence during gay pride month in June. Republicans decried it as disregarding Salvadoran culture and questioned her motives for writing the editorial, despite the fact that the editorial was the result of a cable to all Embassies from the State Department urging missions to write editorials and hold gay pride events.

The true irony of this trumped-up allegation is that the editorial - which Republicans assert "stirred controversy and was rebuked throughout Latin America," mirrored a May 2010 decree by Salvadoran President Funes prohibiting discrimination by the government of El Salvador based on sexual orientation. Let's be honest: there is no question about Ambassador Aponte's qualifications or performance on the job or about whether an editorial on tolerance is grounds for sacking an Ambassador; this is just another Republican dog-and-pony-show to undermine the President's policy objectives and attack a qualified Democratic nominee to an essential post.

When the facts, when the files, when there was nothing that corroborated the vicious allegations about Ms. Aponte's past, those on the other side argued that her editorial on the elimination of prejudice was the basis for their opposition. When they learned that the government of El Salvador itself supports this view, Republicans again changed their tune.

Four weeks after her November 29th nomination hearing, on the eve of the Foreign Relations business committee meeting, these members decided they wanted to attack from a different angle. They called for a new classified hearing to vet her nomination, to permit questions to FBI and Diplomatic Security investigators about whether they had been subjected to political influence for determining that Ambassador Aponte was eligible for a security clearance.

I find it appalling that members of this Chamber would essentially suggest, without evidence, that professional FBI and Diplomatic Security members would bend to political pressure or that any Administration would apply such pressure, risking U.S. national security on behalf of any person. These members knew the content and timing of their request would make it impossible to fulfill. To his credit, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kerry, over the last two weeks has nonetheless sought to resolve the situation.

But, Mr. President, the shifting basis of the opposition to Ambassador Aponte reveals that the motive for that opposition is pure partisan politics driven by pure partisan interests, fueled by pure partisan desire to derail an Administration nominee for the sake of derailment alone, without any regard to the consequences for American foreign policy, or for the nation.

I urge my colleagues to support Ambassador Aponte's nomination. I urge them to put partisan politics aside, recognize the benefits to America's security and foreign policy interests that her tenure has delivered, and allow Ambassador Aponte to continue serving our nation.

With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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