Susan Collins: “I have enormous respect and affection for my colleague from New England, but on this occasion I believe his comments…”

“I have enormous respect and affection for my colleague from New England, but on this occasion I believe his comments were well off the mark. Here are some of the words my colleague spoke: Our problems with the administration on this nomination pale in comparison with the failure of the Senate Republican majority to carry out its own constitutional responsibilities on this nomination. Instead of insisting on adequate answers to questions raised by the documents, they have acquiesced in the Government's coverup and abdicated their own independent constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent. I sincerely believe that were I fortunate enough to have the senior Senator from Massachusetts serve on the committee the Presiding Officer and I serve on, he would never have said those words or reached such a harsh judgment. He went on in his statement to call these proceedings 'a blatantly defective consent.' Again, I so wish that the senior Senator from Massachusetts had had the opportunity to participate in our committee's process. He would have found that our committee has the most thorough process for considering nominations of any committee in the entire Senate.”