Political Quotes

“I rise to address an issue that should be of concern to all Americans; that is, the advice and consent function of the Senate regarding nominations. This is the critical check envisioned by our Founders in which the President has the power to nominate for the executive branch positions and for judicial nominees, and the Senate is held responsible to provide a check to make sure there are not outrageous nominees that are placed in positions. That is the advice and consent function which throughout our history has basically been a simple majority function with very rare exceptions. This issue comes up at this moment because 2 weeks ago the minority of this body in the Senate would not allow there to be a vote on whether to confirm Mel Watt. They did that by preventing there being enough votes to close debate. So that blockade was basically put in place without respecting, if you will, the fact that Mel Watt is highly qualified for his position at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a position he would hold, and giving the entire Senate the ability to weigh in about whether they agreed with that judgment, the judgment of the President that Mel Watt was well qualified. In the same week, this body also blocked an up-or-down vote on Patricia Millett, who was a nominee for the DC Circuit Court. On this occasion, it was not because folks said she was not qualified.…”