Paul Tonko: “I thank the ranking member of our Committee on the Judiciary for yielding. I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr.…”

“I thank the ranking member of our Committee on the Judiciary for yielding. I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for bringing us together tonight so as to speak to what I think is a necessary cry, an outspoken cry to please fill the post on the Supreme Court. {time} 1645 Madam Speaker, I am here this evening to join in spirit and voice with my colleagues who are urging, requesting our counterparts in the Senate, controlled by the Republican Party, to move forward on action taken by our President, as he nominated a gentleman by the name of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Their recalcitrance seems to strike a common theme of obstructionism. The Republican-led Congress has embodied obstructionism over the last several years. We see in public opinion surveys where that has reduced the positive side of the image of Congress simply because we don't do our work when it is required of us. Where else in this country in any other job can you say no when asked to do your job? That is what is happening here. Our Republican-controlled Senate is suggesting and indicating by their action that they will not move in fairness to address this nomination. My colleagues and I are not asking for a rubber stamp process here. We are asking simply that a fair hearing be given to the individual nominated by our President.…”