Chuck Schumer: “I will speak on another subject, but as per an agreement with the Senator from Oklahoma, should someone else come to the…”

“I will speak on another subject, but as per an agreement with the Senator from Oklahoma, should someone else come to the Senate floor and wish to speak on the subject of the bill at hand, I will yield the floor. Nuclear Option Mr. President, I will change the subject to the subject on everyone's mind other than the transportation bill, probably more on our minds than just about anything else, and that is the upcoming nuclear option. Right now, we are on the precipice of a constitutional crisis. We are about to step into the abyss. I want to talk for a few minutes why we are on that precipice and why we are looking into the abyss. Let me first ask a fundamental question: What is the crisis that calls for the undoing of two centuries of tradition? What is the crisis that requires such an unprecedented parliamentary sleight of hand? What is the crisis that calls for a response that is so controversial and extreme that Senator Lott coined the term ``nuclear option'' to describe it? Is it that President Bush has had the terrible misfortune of having only 95 percent of his judicial nominees confirmed? That is, 208 out of 218? It can't be that. Every President should have the luck of George Bush and have so many nominees confirmed to the bench. I might also add, in part because of this high confirmation rate, court vacancies at the end of last session were at their lowest rate in 14 years.…”