Political Quotes

“Thank you very much, Mr. President. I rise in strong support of the nomination of Goodwin Liu to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. I urge my colleagues to invoke cloture on this nomination. I am disappointed we had to file a cloture motion. I hope my colleagues would want to vote up or down on this nomination, and I hope they would vote for his confirmation. As we begin the debate on the nomination of Mr. Liu, let me start by telling my colleagues how thoroughly his nomination has been vetted by the Judiciary Committee under the leadership of Chairman Leahy. President Obama first nominated Goodwin Liu for this position in February of last year. That was over 1 year ago. The Judiciary Committee has held two separate hearings on this nomination. Mr. Liu's latest set of questions and answers, for the record, spanned over 130 pages. The Judiciary Committee has favorably reported his nomination on three separate occasions: in May of 2010, September of 2010, and April of 2011. So I am disappointed my Republican colleagues have refused to allow this nomination to come to a vote without the necessity of filing a cloture motion. As we know, the majority leader has filed cloture on this nomination. Senators have had ample information on the background, experience and qualifications of this nominee and it is time for the Senators to perform their constitutional duty to debate the nomination and to vote up or down on this nominee.…”