Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to speak on another of President Obama's judicial nominees. Tonight's vote to confirm Ms. Mae D'Agostino will be the 14th judicial nominee confirmed this Congress. It is the 10th judicial emergency filled this year. Even though I gave an update to my colleagues just 11 days ago, when we had our last judicial nomination vote, I will give a short report on the status of judicial nominations. To date, we have taken positive action on 33 of the 60 judicial nominees submitted this Congress, or 55 percent. We continue to have nominations hearings every 2 weeks, and have favorably reported nominees out of committee at every weekly markup session. Furthermore, nominees in committee continue to be processed much faster than those nominated by President Bush. On average, President Obama's district court nominees have only had to wait 66 days from nomination to their hearing. For President Bush's nominees, the wait time was nearly double, at 120 days. President Bush's circuit court nominees waited, on average, 247 days for a hearing. President Obama's nominees are receiving their hearing, on average, within 72 days. Even with our rapid pace, the Federal courts still hold a vacancy rate of almost 11 percent. Yet 54 percent of the vacancies do not have nominees. While we are processing consensus nominees in a fair and thorough manner, we cannot lower the vacancy rate if no nominee exists. The seat to which Ms.…”