Heidi Alexander: “I appreciate the courtesy of the majority leader in allowing me to ask him a question. I have more to say about this…”

“I appreciate the courtesy of the majority leader in allowing me to ask him a question. I have more to say about this whole subject. But let me go back to my point. There are 13 district judges on the calendar. On November 21, when we last met, there were 13 district judges. There is only one person in this Chamber who can bring a judge from the calendar to the floor for confirmation. That is the majority leader. Why did he not bring them all up? Why didn't he move them? Because under our rules all he has to do is make a motion that so-and-so district judge be confirmed. If he files cloture, we have to wait 1 day, and then we have 2 hours of debate. Never in the history of the country, according to the Congressional Research Service, has a district judge been denied his or her seat because of a failed cloture vote, because of a filibuster. I know this from personal experience because a judge named McConnell from Rhode Island was nominated by President Obama at the recommendation of the Rhode Island Senators, and there were a number on this side who said we should filibuster the judge. I thought not. I argued to all of the Republicans that we never had done that in history and we ought not to do it, we ought not to start it. So what has happened? I believe, with all due respect, the majority leader is manufacturing a crisis. There is no crisis with those 13 district judges. He is the one who could bring them up.…”