Mark Warner

It is a sham to me when we have the time of the Senate delayed to go through all this process and then time and again these judges are confirmed, and others are confirmed, at north of 90 votes.

It is ridiculous that 18 months into this President's Administration, we have so many senior members of this Administration still waiting to see whether they are going to be able to serve.

I give my full-fledged endorsement to [John Gibney].

I continue to be impressed by the caliber of the candidates that the Virginia bar has been putting forward.

We recommended him to the President for nomination in June of last year.

In John Gibney, we've got somebody who I think is a lawyer's lawyer, somebody who understands those challenges.

The fact that this hearing is already being held, we are grateful for the speedy, expeditious manner in which you are addressing this issue.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Sessions, Senator Grassley, Senator Coburn, for this opportunity.

I am proud to note that Mr. Gibney is a product of Virginia's educational institutions.

As somebody who's grappled with these regional issues as Governor and now Senator, to actually see there's an advantage of this three-part jurisdiction sometimes is harder to see.

We perhaps need to spend more time dealing with the emergency response.

How do we get milestones and metrics that we can use to measure your performance, other than the avoidance of a catastrophic event?

I think they are. One of the things that we have--we commented on in our reports is that TSA needs to do a better job of interacting with our transit stakeholders.

I am very concerned about the safety of Metro.

I thank the Senator from Colorado for his comments and his great perspective on this issue, and again, part of what he is raising is that we want to consider the rules and traditions. Today, we have all these freshmen and sophomore Members…

What we have heard in the case of Pennsylvania, as we heard from all of us, is frustration. As the Senator from Colorado said, folks who have legitimate complaints about an individual, whether they are a judge or a Presidential appointee…

Again, we want to be respectful of Senate traditions, but it just seems at this moment in time, with so many issues our country is confronting, we need a rational process. We need to be able to explain, as the Senator from Colorado said…

Again, this should not fall on partisan lines. We welcome those Senators on the other side of the aisle who are frustrated by this process and want to bring, while respecting the traditions of the Senate, rationality back to the process…

I thank my colleague from Minnesota. In his case in point, we had a judicial nominee endorsed by a Republican Governor, reported out unanimously, filibustered, and then she was confirmed 99 to 0. I respect the traditions of the Senate, but…

We are here to raise the issue that, while we are enormously proud to be Members of the Senate and respect the traditions of the Senate, something seems a little strange when 15 months into this President's administration, we still have…

I thank Senator Merkley. Thank you for sharing those stories from real folks who are dealing with the current broken health care system. There are enormous stress, challenges, and burdens that our current system places on those families. I…

No one has come to this body with more passion about making sure working families get a fair break, not only in health care but in the world of financial reform and issues that cut across the spectrum. I know one of the issues Senator…

One of the things the freshmen have always said, as we have come to the floor over these months--as we have pointed out--is that the price of doing nothing is extraordinarily high to our economy, to our families, to our businesses, and…

I thank Senator Burris for his comments. I know how hard he fought for this legislation, since day one. This legislation is going to have wide-ranging effects for people from all across the Nation. We both share a number of small…

As we approach the end of this long journey, at least the end of the first step of this long journey, I and a number of my colleagues are going to come one more time to the floor to engage in a conversation for a few moments about what…