On the recordFebruary 2, 2010
Well, Mr. President, here we are. It is about 5 minutes to 6 p.m. We have been here all day today postcloture on Patricia Smith. Again, to recap why we are here--I am not certain why we are here but to recap the fact that we are here--Patricia Smith was reported out of our committee last year, was held up to be the Solicitor for the Department of Labor, and finally we had to file cloture because she was being filibustered. That cloture motion ripened last night and we had a cloture vote last night. Sixty people voted to end debate and bring her up for a vote. Well, under the rules of the Senate, there is then 30 hours of debate. So we have been here. It has been nearly 30 hours. We have been here all day today, and, as I understand, only one person showed up today to talk against her nomination. That was my colleague and good friend, Senator Enzi from Wyoming, the ranking member of our committee. I looked at the transcript of what he said, and basically it was just about what was said yesterday. Nothing new came out today. I know Mr. Enzi opposes her nomination. That is no secret. It is his right to do that. But here we are using 30 hours and only one person today has come over to speak against her. So, again, I just say this to inform the public that here we are, the lights are on, the electricity is running, the bills are going up, and we are here for no good reason whatsoever. We could have voted on the nominee last night.…
