John Cornyn: “And I will quote from that letter. This is a letter signed by Chris Dodd, our former colleague who served on the Foreign…”

“And I will quote from that letter. This is a letter signed by Chris Dodd, our former colleague who served on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Joe Biden, when he was a ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee back in 2005. Dear Democratic Colleague: We write to urge you to oppose the cloture on the Bolton nomination tonight. We want to make clear that this is not a filibuster. It is a vote to protect the Senate's constitutional power to advise and consent to nominations. I will skip down, because the letter will be in the Record, to the last paragraph, which says: The refusal of the Executive Branch to provide information relevant to the nomination is a threat to the Senate's constitutional power to advise and consent. The only way to protect that power is to continue to demand that the information be provided to the Senate. The only means of forcing the Administration to cooperate is to prevent a final vote on the nomination today. And the letter, as I said, was signed by Chris Dodd and Joe Biden. My point is, this is exactly what the Senator from Tennessee said it was--a vote not to end debate but to allow these inquiries to be answered. And the shoe will likely be on another foot some other time with some other nominee, so we ought to, I think at a minimum, respect and protect the right of the Senate and of an individual Senator to make reasonable inquiries of a nominee as part of the power of advise and consent. This is not a filibuster.…”