Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it is quite a contrast that the Senator is drawing between an era in which in a 2-week period the bulk of the team was in place, ready to do the work they were elected by the people to do--the executive branch, headed by the President, had his Secretaries, and the Secretaries had their teams in place, and they were ready to go forward to make sure they were working hard on the agenda they had laid out during the election cycle. As my colleague said, elections have consequences. The vision of our Republic is one in which we elect a President, and the President says: Here is my agenda. Then he puts together a team to get it done. It is not in the spirit of our Constitution, it is certainly not in the spirit of our democratic souls, after the people have elected a President, to try to damage and inflict pain and obstruction upon that President. That is essentially saying one does not accept the judgment of U.S. citizens about electing the President. This process has to change. We have to find a way that folks can be brought to the floor. It is not that this Chamber will approve every single nomination. It is that it will hold a debate and have a vote. If there is no controversy surrounding someone, then that will probably be reduced to a unanimous consent request. Some will be waived through to not take up the time on the floor of the Chamber. There is more than 1,000 executive branch positions that have to be confirmed under statute.…”