On the recordMay 19, 2010
It is unconscionable that a military officer in the uniform of the United States, who has put his life on the line for this country, month after month after month, has had his promotion held up by one Senator. It is only one Senator. All the Senators of the Armed Services Committee on both sides wanted to confirm this general. But the rules of the Senate permit one Senator to threaten a filibuster or a so-called hold. In this case, it was an open hold, not a secret hold. He was able to thwart the Senate because we cannot take 2 or 3 or 4 days to take up every nomination of every soldier or civilian because we would get even less done than we do now. Those are the rules of the Senate. They should not be used this way. We expressed that to Senator Vitter. That hold has been lifted. So a well-qualified soldier is going to be promoted 6 months late by the Senate. We can thank him for his service, but the best way we could have thanked him would have been to have promptly promoted him.
