Political Quotes

“My friend, the senior distinguished Senator from Iowa, that is what we are talking about here, the face of obstruction--not him, but the Republican caucus, stalling for no reason other than to stall for time. No wonder the rules were changed. No wonder the American people look at the Senate as a dysfunctional body. A couple of weeks ago we voted to make it a functional body so that nominations can be confirmed for any President. The President deserves to have his team. We have been wasting days, weeks, and months on nominations. We have scores of people and positions that need to be filled. We are only dealing with a handful. People understand the rules. We have changed the rules the last couple of Congresses--very little--but we have changed them. If we have a Supreme Court Justice or a Cabinet officer or someone of that level, they get 30 hours of time following the cloture vote. What are they supposed to do during that 30 hours? Come and explain their position why they oppose a person. For virtually every one of these nominations there hasn't been a single, single complaint about any of them. This culminated by virtue of the Republicans in the Senate making a decision that people who serve in the prestigious DC Circuit Court of Appeals were not entitled to have a full court. There are eight there now, and they said that is enough. That is, some say, the most important court in America; some say more important than the Supreme Court.…”