John Cornyn: “I want to assure the assistant majority leader that we still have a Secretary of Defense. His name is Leon Panetta. And…”

“I want to assure the assistant majority leader that we still have a Secretary of Defense. His name is Leon Panetta. And I am referring to an e-mail his press secretary George Little sent out on Thursday: The Secretary plans to stay in office until Senator Hagel is confirmed and sworn in. So if anybody is under any misapprehension, I believe the Pentagon press secretary has made that clear. We have a Secretary of Defense. He has not resigned, and he will continue to serve until such time as his successor is sworn in. I would say again to my friend, the Senator from Illinois, the assistant majority leader, we all know what a filibuster is. A filibuster is designed to kill a nomination or to defeat legislation, as the Senator from Tennessee said. I would also say this is equivalent to what happened back in 2005. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record following my remarks a letter signed by Chris Dodd and Joseph Biden. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. (See exhibit 1.)”