María Elvira Salazar: “I come to this Chamber this morning to make a few comments in response to my colleagues from Minnesota, South Dakota…”

“I come to this Chamber this morning to make a few comments in response to my colleagues from Minnesota, South Dakota, and Louisiana, concerning the judicial nomination process. Let me say at the outset, I believe the work of this body and this Congress should be getting about the people's business. I believe this issue concerning the filibuster rule is something that is distracting this country and this Congress from doing what we should be working on. In the Washington Post this morning, the headline story talks about the economic worries of America. The first two paragraphs of the article in the Washington Post read as follows: Inflation and interest rates are rising, stock values have plunged, a tank of gas induces sticker shock, and for nearly a year, wages have failed to keep up with the cost of living. Yet in Washington, the political class has been consumed with the death of a brain-damaged woman in Florida, the ethics of the House majority leader, and the fate of the Senate filibuster. I would submit that we as a body have a responsibility to address the issues the people of this country care about. Those issues are about passing a transportation bill for America. Those issues are about getting an energy bill passed for the people of America that helps us get rid of our overdependence on foreign oil.…”