Roy Blunt: “as the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the Senator from Iowa, has just pointed out, the Senate will soon…”

“as the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the Senator from Iowa, has just pointed out, the Senate will soon vote on the nomination of William Barr to serve as Attorney General. As has also been pointed out, this is, undoubtedly, one of the most qualified nominees to come before the Senate in his having already held the same position under President George H.W. Bush. He has also served as an intelligence analyst at the CIA, as an Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, and as Deputy Attorney General before he served as Attorney General. His confirmation hearing lasted more than 12 hours, during which time he and other witnesses answered hundreds of questions on a wide variety of issues he might confront as Attorney General. He was straightforward and forthcoming. He earned high praise even from the ranking Democrat on that committee--our colleague, Senator Feinstein from California-- who said: He's obviously very smart. He was Attorney General before. . . . No one can say he isn't qualified. I was thinking last night, obviously Mr. Barr is qualified. He is bright. He is capable. She could have said more, but one of the things she said after that is, ``I won't be voting for him.'' This is an important job for the American people. There are a lot of jobs out there to be filled.…”