On the recordJune 30, 2010
it is unfortunate to watch what just happened again in this institution. The chair of the Small Business Committee, who is serving her State, is an incredible advocate for her State, is serving this country well, wants this government to be able to govern. And you see one after another after another where the President of the United States has dozens and dozens and dozens of appointees, noncontroversial. My guess is, when this nominee finally comes to a vote--I don't know this for sure, but my guess is there will be very few ``no'' votes. We have seen this with Federal judges, we have seen it with U.S. attorneys, we have seen it with U.S. marshals, and we have seen it with Under Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries and all kinds of commission nominees. We have never seen anything like this in this country where one party has consistently and persistently blocked nominee after nominee after nominee. I mean, if your goal in government--if you come to the Senate and your goal is to block anything from happening, the Senate rules serve you pretty well. But if you want to move this country forward and put party aside, we would not see this kind of thing happen over and over. So I commend Senator Landrieu for her work on the floor today, her passionate advocacy for small business, and her work generally in fighting for her State. But I was disturbed to watch what just happened. If it were the only time, I guess I wouldn't be judging of it much, but it is not.
