Rick Allen: “the Senator from Illinois went on further to chastise and criticize the statements that he said were contradictory…”

“the Senator from Illinois went on further to chastise and criticize the statements that he said were contradictory statements of Senator Frist in a filibuster, as he characterized it, in the year 2000. Now, if the senior Senator from Illinois, Senator Durbin, wants to point to prior inconsistent statements, let me refresh his memory. This is what Senator Durbin said on September 28, 1998: I think that responsibility requires us to act in a timely fashion on nominees sent before us. The reason I oppose cloture is I would like to see that the Senate shall also be held to the responsibility of acting in a timely fashion. If, after 150 days languishing in a committee there is no report on an individual, the name should come to the floor. If, after 150 days languishing on the Executive Calendar that name has not been called for a vote, it should be. Vote the person up or down. They are qualified or they are not. Those are good words from the senior Senator from Illinois in 1998. Those are the principles we are advocating now. These nominees have not been held up for just 150 days. These nominees--Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, and others have been held up for months and years, and in Justice Owen's case, four years. Then we heard from the senior Senator from Illinois, after saying that we ought to watch our words, he called the Republicans dogs, more specifically, cocker spaniels. This was all because we vote for President Bush's nominees for judges.…”