Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I intend to object to any unanimous consent request at the present time relating to the nomination of Brian James Egan, of Maryland, to be Legal Adviser of the Department of State. I will object because the Department of State has failed to fully respond to almost a dozen outstanding letters dating back to 2013. In addition, on August 20, 2015, my staff met with Department officials in an effort to prioritize material for production. The Department has failed to comply with its commitments, producing material late, failing to provide all requested material, and even failing to provide material to the Senate Judiciary Committee contemporaneously with providing the same documents to Freedom of Information Act requestors. This past August, I warned the Department that if it failed to change its ways that I would be forced to escalate the scope of my intent to object to unanimous consent requests for Department nominees. Since then, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairman has joined me in requesting witness interviews of Department employees. Despite the Department's commitment to make witnesses available and assist in the identification of additional relevant witnesses, none of these interviews have actually been scheduled. The Department needs to respond in good faith to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Thus far, it has primarily been promises with little or no followthrough.…”