Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to speak about the issue of judicial nominations. Our Nation faces a serious problem: 1 out of every 10 Federal judgeships is vacant. Yet we continue to see-- unfortunately and sadly--unprecedented obstruction from the other side of the aisle when it comes to these nominations. Right now on the Executive Calendar of the Senate there are 22 judicial nominations pending. Twelve of these 22 were successfully voted out of the Judiciary Committee last year, 2 of them as far back as October, and 17 of the nominees currently on the calendar were voted out with strong bipartisan support. Additionally, 13 of the 22 nominees who are being held have the approval of the Republican Senator from the State where the nomination has been made. Despite the fact these nominations are not controversial, that they passed by a bipartisan vote in the Judiciary Committee and out of the committee, they still languish on the calendar because of Republican objections. I know people get tired and say: I wish you all weren't so partisan around here. Well, I hate to give a speech where most will say that is just a partisan speech, but we are talking about nominees who have bipartisan support, with a strong vote coming out of committee being held on the calendar. Despite the fact they are noncontroversial, there have been objections to up-and-down votes. All we ask for is to just give them a vote. It is not right. Unfortunately, it is a new development in the Senate.…”