Political Quotes

“my hope is that we can reach time agreements on consideration of these nominees prior to the time that cloture votes are scheduled under the rules on Thursday so that cloture can be vitiated. I want to make clear that we are compelled to file cloture because we have been informed by our Republican colleagues that they will not provide any such time agreement and, therefore, there is no way of knowing if or when we would be able to get to a vote and complete action on the measures. We are continuing to work on that, and I hope we can get some agreements to that effect so that it will not be necessary to have the cloture vote, and the cloture can be vitiated. I will inform the Senate of our progress in that regard during the day tomorrow. Under the Senate rules, if we do not reach an agreement, then cloture votes on the Brown and Barkett nominations will occur on Thursday morning, either in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, 1 hour after the Senate convenes, or at a specific time pursuant to an agreement if one is reached.”