Political Quotes

“Mr. Presidentt, I wish to first respond, if I might, to the comments Senator Kyl made in regard to consideration of judicial appointments. Of course, one of the most important responsibilities each one of us in the Senate has is to deal with confirmation of judges who have lifetime appointments to the Federal bench. It seems to me the Republicans are criticizing the Democratic leadership because sometimes they think we move too slowly, and now they are criticizing us for moving too fast on nominations. I don't quite understand it. I hope the public will look at the record. When President Clinton was President of the United States, when he left office, there were 32 vacancies on the circuit courts of this Nation. Today, that number stands at 12. We have moved the confirmation process forward. I think we have done it in the appropriate manner. I would also point out that there have been three circuit court judges who have had some controversy surrounding their confirmations in which there was opposition by Democrats, but at no time did Democrats delay the consideration of those nominations on the floor. They came up, they were voted on, there was never a filibuster, and there was never an effort made to slow it down. In fact, on one judicial appointment that was voted for on this floor, it was the Republicans who asked for the delay so they could get the necessary votes to get the nomination out of committee.…”