On the recordJanuary 9, 2014
of course that is a question that is a great big softball--of course not. We need debate. We need good, strong debate about nominations and everything else. But what we don't need is hours and days and weeks and months of obstruction. That is what we have here. My friend, the Republican leader, is picturing to everyone within the sound of his voice something that doesn't exist. There has been obstruction that has been carried to an extent that no one ever dreamed would happen in this great Republic. That is what the objection is. The objection is to obstruction. Was it only a debate when my Republican colleagues decided the DC Circuit-- some say the most important court in this country, even, some say, more important than the Supreme Court--when they decided there were vacant seats there and for 5 years held up filling those seats? Is that a debate? No. It is obstruction. If we turn to the dictionary and look up ``obstruction,'' they would point right over here. Mr. McCONNELL. Will the majority leader yield for another question? Since he has conceded that no Cabinet members have been defeated prior to the decision of the majority leader to break the rules of the Senate to change the rules of the Senate, is it not the case that 215 of President Barack Obama's judges have been confirmed and only 2 have been defeated?
