Political Quotes

“first I wish to thank my colleagues from New Hampshire and South Carolina. There is at least an opportunity or a tradition at the end of a calendar year that we take the nominations pending in the Senate, both in committee and on the calendar, and literally return them to the White House. That means that in the beginning of the next year, we start over. It may mean a hearing, it may mean postponement, but we lose all we have achieved up to this point. We absolutely have to start over. I would argue at this point that we seriously consider changing that tradition, and I will make a unanimous consent request to change it. There are some 238 total nominees who are at issue here. Eighty-three are on the Executive Calendar and 155 are pending in committee-- nominations sent by the White House to Capitol Hill which have either been lost--not lost in committee but held in committee--or sent to the calendar. Of the group I have just mentioned, of the 238, 47 are judicial nominations, 36 are Ambassadors--and I have read through the list of countries here and they range from some of the smaller ones to larger countries as well--and 86 are nominees to Cabinet-level agencies. So it is a wide spectrum of appointments that have been sent for Senate consideration to Capitol Hill. We are embroiled in an internal debate about the rules of the Senate concerning the filibuster and nominations.…”