Daniel Akaka: “I have spent the past 23 hours listening to the debate which was billed as a debate on judicial nominations and has…”

“I have spent the past 23 hours listening to the debate which was billed as a debate on judicial nominations and has turned into a semantics fest over who is responsible for the delayed enactment of legislation important to both sides of the aisle. One thing is clear to me, this is not getting us any closer to enacting the legislation we have identified as important. We are devoting 30 hours to debate the fact that the Senate has passed only 98 percent of President Bush's nominees, not 100 percent. I take my responsibilities as a United States Senator very seriously. My understanding is that I am to provide the President with my advice and consent regarding the individuals he nominates for a lifetime position to the Federal judiciary. It troubles me that we are spending 30 hours to discuss the fact that we have not acted on 2 percent of the President's nominees to the Federal judiciary. We are talking about 4 individuals, 4 individuals who have jobs, while 3 million people have lost jobs since President Bush took office. We should be talking about jobs. We should be debating and voting on legislation to increase the minimum wage. We should be finishing our appropriations bills. We should be talking about ways to strengthen our manufacturing base. We should be discussing extended unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, the 3 million Americans who have lost their jobs during the Bush presidency.”