On the recordFebruary 9, 2010
in 25 years in the Senate, this is the first time I've seen a vote on a nominee to the National Labor Relations Board fraught with such controversy and subject even to a filibuster. But I regret to say it is controversy manufactured by the Senate minority for only one reason--a filibuster as political tactic to stonewall President Obama at every turn. Consequently, this nomination is an important test of the minority, a test of all those who for years under President Bush repeated and repeated demands for ``up or down votes'' on nominees, and got them without the kind of 8-month delays that have scuttled Craig Becker's nomination. It is also a test of whether the Senate minority will accept the President's overtures to work together for the benefit of the American people or whether they will continue to vote strictly along party lines to obstruct those efforts for no reason other than political gains for their party. No one disputes that Craig Becker is one of the preeminent authorities on labor law in the United States.
