Jeff Flake: “I want to thank the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Coons, and the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Booker, for doing this…”

“I want to thank the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Coons, and the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Booker, for doing this together with us to make sure that we have this bipartisan piece of legislation here on the Senate floor. It is not unremarkable to have such a bipartisan piece of legislation pass out of the Judiciary Committee. We don't have very many bipartisan pieces of legislation coming out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but this one was--by a vote of 14 to 7, including the chairman of the committee. There is no reason it shouldn't be brought to the floor. It was passed out of the Judiciary Committee on April 26. I should note that the Judiciary Committee has been busy sending things to the floor during the intervening time. In fact, since April 26, when this bill passed the Judiciary Committee, we have sent 49 nominations through to the floor that we have voted on and confirmed here on the floor. Since that time, the floor actually has voted on 50. There was one that was already in the queue. So on the floor, since this bill passed the Judiciary Committee, we have voted on 50 confirmations of the President's nominees. Many of these nominees were blue-slipped in Democratic States; some, in Republican. We have been able to move on all of them. There is no reason we shouldn't move on this vital piece of legislation to protect the special counsel.…”