Political Quotes

“Today the Senate will confirm two more of President Obama's judicial nominees. With this action, we are filling two seats which have been declared judicial emergencies. I am pleased we are moving forward with these important positions. I agree with the chairman's recent editorial and remarks he has made that we have an opportunity to turn the page and work together in a spirit of bipartisanship and civility. I do not view it as a productive effort to continue with the finger pointing and the negative back and forth regarding the previous pace or outcome of judicial nominations. Unfortunately, that rhetoric has frequently overshadowed the debate on the qualifications of particular nominees. I and my Republican colleagues have been very cooperative in taking action on the President's nominees. During this Congress, the President has nominated 50 individuals to the Federal judiciary. This Congress has been in session for approximately 1 month. In this brief time, we have taken positive action, in one form or another, on nearly half of those nominees. With today's votes, we will have confirmed 5 nominees. If this is not cooperation, I do not know what is. Furthermore, we have seen a high level of bipartisanship with regard to President Obama's confirmed nominees. For President Obama's confirmed district judge nominees, 94 percent of those confirmations were by unanimous votes.”