On the recordSeptember 28, 1998
I will just say this. To show that we all sometimes fail to have clean hands, when I was majority leader in the second session of the 100th Congress--I don't mind saying this--the civilian nominations totaled 516, including 112 nominations carried over from the first session; 335 of these were confirmed, 170 were unconfirmed, and 11 were withdrawn. So, this is a failing that can be ascribed to both Democrats and Republicans when they are in control of the Congress. But, yet, I come back to my original premise; namely, that the Constitution did not require me to call up all those nominations off the calendar. It didn't say I had to do that. But it did say, with respect to nominations, that appointments to vacancies were to be shared by the President and the Senate, and that is what this bill is contemplating to enforce and what I am fighting for today.
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