Byron Dorgan: “Yes, nominations of judges. My understanding--the Senator from Nevada might correct me--my understanding is it has taken…”

“Yes, nominations of judges. My understanding--the Senator from Nevada might correct me--my understanding is it has taken a substantial amount of time for the administration to move judges to the Congress for consideration. I believe something like 25 or 29 of them came just the first part of August. They are now going through the hearing process. With respect to judges, as far as I am concerned--and I hope every one of my colleagues feels the same way--let's get judges moving; let's get all the appointments and confirmations moving. As far as I am concerned, the same burden rests on myself. If I object to someone, bring them out and I will vote against them. By and large, I think most of these nominations are pretty good nominations, but I do not think anybody is trying to hold these up. What has happened is it has taken a great deal of time to get names here, and now the Judiciary Committee is sifting through them to get the hearings in place. The fact we are not even allowed to go to appropriations bills has nothing to do with appropriations; it has to do with some other issue.”