William H. Frist: “I will be brief. I was just talking to my staff and to the Democratic leader to see exactly what offer was made. I did…”

“I will be brief. I was just talking to my staff and to the Democratic leader to see exactly what offer was made. I did not know exactly what offer had been made, but he reviewed it with me. Let me make a statement because it is important for people to know the Democratic leader and I are in constant conversation about what is a very important issue to this institution, to the culture of this institution, to the past and traditions which are important, but ultimately it is what we do in the future because that is what we can control today. It is our responsibility to do so. As we walk the Halls, people come up all the time and say there are outside groups putting pressure on people to behave in certain ways, or to vote in certain ways in terms of this important issue. I have told them, all day and each and every day, ultimately how we handle judges in these judicial nominees is determined, as set out in the Constitution, by the 100 Senators who are here today. That is what we are working with and discussions are ongoing. Having not heard the specifics of the proposal, the Democratic leader and I will continue conversations on the proposal that he has put forth. But I do want to draw back and say that the more and more I listen to all the recent discussions about the President's judicial nominees, the more disturbed I become and the more upset I have become.…”