Angie Craig: “May, June, July--3 months now--that person has languished before the committee. Both the Senator from Arizona and I have…”

“May, June, July--3 months now--that person has languished before the committee. Both the Senator from Arizona and I have openly discussed the time we lost through the transition when we had one of our colleagues become Independent and the leadership of the Senate changed. At the same time there is no excuse, because staffs didn't change dramatically. We really just passed the gavel over and the total number of members on the committee changed. Yes, we had to wait for an administrative process that allowed a new regulation to be written-- a resolution of the Senate, what we call an organizational resolution-- but still, that committee could have gone on, and many did, to hold hearings. They could have voted them out immediately, then, after the hearing record was established because none of us were calling for votes on key committees. But some committees did function. And here, now, we have this critical position languishing because of failure to act. I thank my colleague for bringing that point forward.”