Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Senate just devoted almost 3 hours to the nomination of Thomas Vanaskie. Senate Republicans demanded this extended time for debate. I thank Senator Specter and Senator Casey for their statements. The Senators from Pennsylvania know Judge Vanaskie best, and strongly support him. I was glad to see Chairman Dodd, Senator Brown of Ohio and Senator Kaufman come to use some of the time to talk about Wall Street reform. That is what we should be working on. Wall Street reform, patent reform, and other matters that are important to the American people are what we should be debating. I was glad to see that time not wasted in another extended quorum call because those who demanded this time to debate the nomination did not use it. I was glad to hear Senator Hagan talk about the two North Carolina nominees to the Fourth Circuit. They are among the 25 judicial nominees that Republicans have objected to considering even though they were voted out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously or nearly so. With respect to the President's judicial nominees, as I have said, we are well behind the pace I set as chairman when the Senate was considering President Bush's nominees during the second year of his presidency. By this date in President Bush's second year, the Senate with a Democratic majority, had moved ahead to confirm 45 of his Federal circuit and district court judges.…”