Political Quotes

“it seems as if every day the majority leader keeps telling us how great the Senate is working--better than ever, he says. Let's take a look at a couple of things today. The growing backlog on nominations is another story. There are more than 100 nominations pending in committees. This is an interesting way the Republicans do this. They say we do not have anything on the calendar. We cannot have anything on the calendar if they do not report them out of the committees. There are 48 nominations currently pending in the Foreign Relations Committee, including Ambassadors of really important countries, such as Pakistan, Finland, Sweden, Kosovo, and many other countries. The Environment and Public Works Committee has 11 pending nominations, and 9 nominations are waiting in the HELP Committee. At the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, there is a score--many of them there. There are eight nominations awaiting consideration in the banking committee. Seven are pending in commerce, and six await Senate Finance Committee action. In the Judiciary Committee--I spoke here a little while ago, a week ago, about Judge Felipe Restrepo. He is a Federal district court judge in Pennsylvania. It is being delayed, even though both Senators--a Democrat and Republican--from Pennsylvania want this nomination to go forward. So they say. He is one of 20 pending nominations awaiting in the Judiciary Committee. That is unbelievable.…”