Pete Sessions: “There is an argument that can be made by the Senator from New York that holds that were ended by cloture votes are…”

“There is an argument that can be made by the Senator from New York that holds that were ended by cloture votes are filibusters, but they were not really filibusters in the sense we are facing them today. What we are seeing today is a sustained deliberate attempt by the leadership of the Democratic Party to block judges by having less than 50 votes to do so. They block judges by requiring through the procedural rules of the Senate that we have to have 60 votes to confirm a judge instead of 51. We know that in each one of these nominees that have been held up that more than 50, usually as many as 55, 54, 53 votes are there to confirm the nomination, but they have been blocked by a sustained filibuster led by the Democratic leadership and Tom Daschle and his team. That is what has brought us to this point. I think we have clarified that issue. I say on the question of are we changing our views on this side, I reject that point.”