Political Quotes

“Madam President, reserving the right to object, let me explain this process. When a nomination is sought to be cleared by both sides, there is what is called a hotline. All offices receive a quick notice that a particular bill or nominee is being hotlined. If you have a question or a concern, you register that. It is registered as an objection until it can be cleared up. In many cases, it is cleared up very quickly--sometimes overnight. Sometimes the two leaders need to work out a process for it to be cleared. It is, in one sense, a hold. As I said, I have no objection to these two people, so I am not holding them. I am objecting on behalf of the Republican leadership in order to enable the two leaders to clear both of these nominees; that is, to make sure there is no objection on either side, so they can both go forward. That is the basis for my objection. Mrs. McCASKILL. Madam President, let me make a couple comments concerning that. First, Mr. Weener has been on the Executive Calendar since March 24. So this isn't something that happened in the last couple days. Second, it was very clear that the Senator from Arizona said he wasn't objecting, so he is objecting for someone else. This notion that this has something to do with the leaders working together, none of these nominees are being held by anybody. This is not about the leader asking for time to clear names. It is not whether somebody can hold. Certainly, somebody can hold.…”