Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to continue the discourse my esteemed colleague, the good Senator from Missouri, was engaged in on the Senate floor just a minute ago, talking about the importance--the importance--of bipartisanship as we work to craft policy for this country, policy that all Americans can support and policy that truly moves our country forward. So whether we are considering nominations or whether we are considering legislation, we need to find ways to come together and come up with solutions that the American people support across the board in a bipartisan way. So as we consider these nominations, we have to consider the fact that now the Senate will be approving these nominations with essentially a 1-party vote, 51 votes. Right now, the Democratic Party has the majority in the Senate, so they can put judges on the bench, confirm other nominations without any Republican support whatsoever. Of course, under that approach, at some point the reverse may very well be true, that nominees may be confirmed--whether it is judicial nominees or other types of appointments--with only Republican votes if the Republicans are in the majority without any Democratic votes. Why does that matter? Why it matters is because, again, I go back to my earlier statement that in crafting policy, crafting laws and making appointments, nominations to the bench, we need to do it in a way where we garner broad support across the country.…”