today I wish to take a few moments to talk about the importance of the oversight work of the Congress. It is a very critical function of Congress. As one of the three branches of government, Congress is a very important pillar of our…

I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk called the roll.

on Friday a week ago, the Secretary of HHS made a very important announcement regarding one specific provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Secretary Sebelius announced the administration would no longer be…

My amendment No. 860 is a good government amendment for which I hope we can get broad support. There are special interests in Washington making the rounds opposing this amendment. These groups have argued this amendment will unduly burden…

earlier this afternoon we voted on a good government proposal that would have improved accountability for taxpayer dollars. That amendment focused on grants awarded by the Department of Justice. Soon we will be voting to repeal another…

this is a good-government amendment, and it goes after the Justice Department grant management program because the inspector general has had grant management at the top of his 10 major management challenges. The inspector general says that…

I ask the Chair to please inform me when I have spoken 10 minutes. For other people who want to speak, I don't think I will speak that long. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will do so. Amendment No. 860

I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk called the roll. The result was announced--yeas 46, nays 54, as…

today the Senate will vote on three more judicial nominations. With these votes, we will have confirmed 14 nominees this month and 52 nominees this year. We continue to achieve great progress in committee as well. Eighty-four percent of…

We have confirmed 53 judicial nominees this year, making this session of Congress one of the most productive over the last 30 years.

hostility towards criticism and the politicization of the judiciary by legislatures.

What steps would you take, if confirmed, to ensure better cooperation and coordination with parallel Congressional investigations?

OK. As chief public defender there in El Paso, you defended your office in one particular case...

So based on that, do you understand how it interferes with our Congressional inquiry to provide evidence like this directly to the very office we're investigating?

I believe three branches of government.

Information from whistleblowers should result in easy money for the IRS, which is really easy money then for the Federal Government.

I would think people in the Ninth Circuit wouldn't be particularly proud of that.

Why didn't you apply the three-strikes law and sentence the defendant to a prison term called for by the statute?

What constitutional interpretation model will guide you when faced with constitutional questions?

I joined Chairman Baucus to close the tax gap.

I don't believe it refers to the legislature itself, because there are a great number of the legislature that is supportive of the current court plan that we have.

Today's hearing is the 17th nominations hearing held during this Congress, meaning during this year.

Judge, let me ask you a few questions.

Today marks the 19th nomination hearing held in this Committee this year, and we will have heard from 71 judicial nominees.

I authored changes to those provisions in 2006. The changes were made to incentivize whistleblowing on big dollar tax fraud.