Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here on the floor to ask for some courtesy for a pair of nominees. These are nominees to the Court of Federal Claims, which is the court to which citizens can come with claims against the Federal Government. In the Court of Federal Claims, the Federal Government is the defendant, and these two individuals are in an enormous traffic jam that our colleagues have created for nominees. At the moment, I am told we have 159 nominees, out of committee, on the Executive Calendar, backed up on the Senate floor--159. I am on the Judiciary Committee. These two are judges. They are for the Court of Federal Claims. This is not a partisan thing; this is about letting the Court of Federal Claims do its work. Both of them are extremely well qualified; neither is partisan. Both were voice voted out of the Judiciary Committee, and I would hope, just as a matter of courtesy and common decency, we could agree tonight to move them forward. Now, one of them is named Armando Bonilla. He served as the counsel to the Marshals Service. He served as counsel to the Deputy Attorney General. He served, actually, as Associate Deputy Attorney General. In the Department of Justice it is not an easy thing to move up from being counsel to the Marshals Service to being counsel to the DAG, to being Associate DAG. So that is a pretty impressive record.…”