Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this is the fourth time in under 2 weeks that Senator Grassley and I, with a large bipartisan coalition of Senators in the Senate--a coalition that spans the philosophical spectrum of membership in the Senate--has sought to pass this legislation to finally end the stranglehold of secret holds. The American people want accountability from their elected officials, but there is simply no accountability when the Senate operates in secret. The fact is, this has gone on for years and years, and it has been done on a bipartisan basis. Right now there are scores of qualified nominees for important positions in the administration and the Federal courts who can't get a vote on the Senate floor--and it has also taken place on a bipartisan basis for years and years--as Senator Grassley and I have tried to make the point over this decade that we have been attacking secrecy in the Senate and that this has gone on in a bipartisan fashion. The fact is a secret hold is one of the most powerful tools a Member of the Senate has today. I would be the first to grant that the American people have no idea what secret holds are. The fact is a secret hold can effectively kill a nomination or piece of legislation, and it can be done without anyone--colleagues in the Senate or the public--knowing who did it or why.…”