Political Quotes

“The criticism has been leveled that the Democrats are somehow obstructionists; that we are standing in the path of the President to filling his Cabinet. The Senator from New Mexico knows this is the second rollcall on the nominees of the President. Six nominees for the Cabinet positions asked for by President Bush have been approved by voice vote--without even a recorded vote having been taken. Only one remains: Mr. Chertoff. To suggest that somehow we are delaying, obstructing, standing in the road of progress for this administration is to overlook the obvious. We have cooperated with this administration. We have done our best to expedite the hearings on these nominees. There are only two of the highest positions--Secretary of State and Attorney General--that have evoked any substantive floor debate. As I listen to my Republican colleagues, it appears that their advice to the Democratic minority is to sit down and be quiet; you lost the election. But, as I understand it, each of us has been elected to represent a State and to stand up for the values in which we believe. To ask for a few moments on the floor to debate an important nomination for Secretary of State or Attorney General I don't think is being impudent. I think it is what we were elected to do.”