Political Quotes

“Mr. President, on January 4, 2012, President Obama bypassed the Senate's constitutional right to advise and consent to nominees and, instead, unilaterally made appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to the National Labor Relations Board. He purported to do so under the Constitution's recess appointments clause, even though at the time of the appointments the Senate was holding pro forma sessions roughly every 72 hours. If allowed to stand, President Obama's unprecedented and unconstitutional recess appointments could result in Presidents of both parties routinely circumventing the Senate's advice-and-consent function and thus depriving the people and the people's representatives of an essential check on the executive branch. President Obama's actions also violate the Constitution's fundamental system of separation of powers. He has asserted the unilateral power to override Congress's own determination of when it is in session and when it is in recess. At an absolute minimum, the Senate's institutional prerogatives demand that we be allowed to make our own rules. Yet President Obama's actions would deprive our body of even that basic right. In the past, I have given pretty broad deference to the President's judicial nominees. Both in the Judiciary Committee and on the floor of the Senate, I have voted in favor of the vast majority of President Obama's nominees, including many with whom I have fundamental disagreements on various points.…”