Tom Harkin

an issue I will be talking about every day is the issue of judgeships and the fact that we still have our judges bottled up, especially Bonnie Campbell, who has now been waiting 217 days to be reported out of the committee. Yet we just had…

Again, every day I will come out and ask unanimous consent to get Bonnie Campbell's name out of the committee and on the floor for a vote. Yet the objections come from the Republican side of the aisle. Why, I don't know. As I said, no one…

I wish I knew why people are objecting. Why are they objecting to Bonnie Campbell? Why are they objecting to a debate on the Senate floor? Why are they objecting to bringing her name out so that we can have a discussion and a vote on it? I…

Bush's plan would leave rural Americans out in the cold. Thirty percent of seniors live in areas with no HMOs. And contrary to what the Senator from Minnesota said, if I heard him correctly, under the Bush program, the Government would pay…

I will support consideration by the Senate of these nominations to fill district judge vacancies in Arizona and Illinois because we are entering a critical stage in the rising number of judicial vacancies in our Federal courts. However, in…

I respond by saying I was not trying to imply one way or the other that seniority had something to do with who gets out of the Judiciary Committee. My main point was that three of the four nominees we voted on today have been pending a…

I initially had 3 hours of time on which to speak about the judicial nominees and, more specifically, the holdup that is happening on the Judiciary Committee with regard to the former attorney general of the State of Iowa, Bonnie J…

I just say to the leader, it seems odd we have a nominee that is supported by both of the Senators from her home State, on both sides of the aisle, on the Republican and Democratic side; and I think she is not getting her due process here…

I rise today in continuing concern over the National Ignition Facility, a massive stockpile stewardship facility being built at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore Labs in California. This program has been beset by cost overruns…

Because Governor Bush's program is not Medicare; it is welfare. What seniors want is they want Medicare, they do not want welfare. Look at the States. To sign up for Medicare, seniors fill out long, complex applications in 26 States. They…

I think if we had more of an opportunity to act as a Senate, to bring legislation out and to be able to consider bills that we might be interested in, that we wouldn't have to do them on appropriations bills. But because we are prevented…

Sometimes--I am not mentioning any names--sometimes we talk with colleagues about the rules. There is kind of a smirk: Oh, yes, we have business to do around here. And there is sort of--I detected it lately--there is sort of: ``Well, the…

I will say one more time, what the seniors of this country want is they want Medicare; they do not want welfare.

I think what is happening is that the foundation on which this Senate has been based is beginning to crumble. It is not all gone yet. But I was thinking, the Senate is like a foundation. If you pull one brick out, OK; it still holds. You…

I respond in kind by thanking the Senator from California for pointing out again what is at stake because we are not allowed to offer our amendments. The Senator from California has done a great service not only to the Senate, but to the…

According to a recent study, if the experience of state pharmacy assistance programs is any guide, of the 34 million, about 625,000--less than 5 percent of those eligible--would sign up for a low-income drug plan.

I thank the Senator for pointing this out. It is true, it is the first time since 1965 we have not reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. What the Federal Government has done since the adoption of that bill, since 1965…

Forty-three percent of these tax breaks go to the top 1 percent, who have an average income of over $915,000 a year. This is where Governor Bush's tax breaks go. Yet Winifred Skinner--age 69, in my home State of Iowa--has to go around the…

as I said, most State legislatures meet every 2 years. Governor Bush's own State didn't even implement the CHIP program for over 2 years. In addition, the States don't even want this block grant. In February of this year, the Governors…

it is time to shed some light on the Medicare prescription drug proposal advanced by some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and by their nominee for President, Gov. George Bush. Unfortunately, there is a big TV ad campaign…

I rise to discuss my disappointment that the Republican leadership in the Senate seems to have better things to do than to pass a bill reauthorizing one of our most effective laws to combat domestic violence. I am talking about the…

You know what 415 votes says to me? It says that the House has given Bonnie Campbell an A-plus for her job in implementing the provisions of the Violence Against Women's Act, since it became law in 1994. If you had somebody who had done a…

She can help make sure that the law lives, that the Violence Against Women Act is enforced by the courts by being on the Eighth Circuit. Yet she is being held up here. I will tell you, it is not right. I hope when we take up the Violence…

I ask the Senator further, I had been hearing that one of the reasons that it might be hard to get Bonnie Campbell through was, well, this is a circuit court and it is right before an election. You have to understand that in an election…

I ask the Senator further, is it true that we have only had one circuit judge that was nominated this year, approved?