Political Quotes

“After extensive and unnecessary delays, the Senate will finally vote today on three important nominations to fill high-level posts at the Department of Justice. Two of these positions have national security responsibilities. I have been here since the Ford administration, and I cannot recall a time when the Justice Department and the country were deprived of such critical appointees. Whether we had a Republican or Democratic President, we always quickly filled these kinds of national security positions. So it is hard to understand why we have not been able to vote on nominees for positions with significant national security responsibilities such as the Deputy Attorney General and the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division--especially when we are 2\1/2\ months away from the 10th anniversary of September 11. The nominations of Jim Cole to be Deputy Attorney General, Lisa Monaco to be Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Virginia Seitz to be Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel have been blocked for months by Republican obstruction over matters not related to the qualifications of the nominees and in abject disregard of the needs of the Justice Department and the country. So I am glad that today we are finally going to vote and, I trust, confirm these superbly qualified nominees. The unprecedented filibuster of the nomination of the Deputy Attorney General has been especially egregious.…”