Political Quotes

“Reserving the right to object--and I will object--I wish to remind my colleagues of a couple important points. First, over the last several weeks some of my colleagues in the majority have expressed frustration because some of the nominees they support haven't been brought up for a final vote. I must say this is quite surprising to me. As everyone knows, late last year the Senate Democrats invoked the so-called nuclear option. The stated reason for doing so of course was to strip the minority of our ability to stop any judicial or executive nominees on the floor. In fact, just before invoking the so-called nuclear option, here is what the majority leader said about it: The change we propose today would ensure executive and judicial nominations an up or down vote on confirmation--yes or no. The rule change will make cloture for all nominations other than the Supreme Court a majority threshold vote--yes or no. Of course, 52 Democrats voted to take this unprecedented step, which tossed aside two centuries of Senate history and tradition, even though this President has an outstanding record of getting his nominations confirmed. In fact, prior to the President's attempt to fill the DC Circuit with judges they didn't need, the Senate had confirmed 215 of the President's judicial nominees, rejecting only 2. That is more than a 99-percent approval rating of the President's nominees.…”