Political Quotes

“Madam President, first, I thank Senator Menendez for his incredible leadership on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. What Senator Menendez did not bring out is the number of hours our committee has had hearings on each one of these nominees. We take the nomination process very seriously--the committee does-- under Senator Menendez's leadership. We have a complete record on the background and experience of each of President Obama's nominees. We have vetted them, gone over everything, and we have had hearings. As Senator Menendez pointed out, today I chaired a hearing where we considered the nominations for our Ambassadors to Algeria, Vietnam, and the Republic of Korea as well as an Assistant Administrator for USAID for Asia. That hearing lasted an hour and a half, many questions were asked. The record is open through Thursday so members of the committee can ask additional questions. Many times additional questions are asked for the record. We get those responses, and we then analyze all of that information and go to a committee markup where every member of the committee has a chance to debate each nominee. As Senator Menendez has pointed out, in most cases they have been approved by our committee by unanimous votes, and many times it is not recorded because there is no controversy.…”