Political Quotes

“as we return from recess for the remaining days of the 113th Congress, I begin by congratulating my friend Senator Chuck Grassley who will become chairman of the Judiciary Committee beginning in the 114th Congress. We have a very good working relationship, and I hope this will continue when he assumes the chairmanship in January. We still have several weeks left in this Congress with much work left to be done. As history shows, when both sides work together, the lameduck session can be a productive one for filling vacancies on our courts. In 2002, after the midterm elections, Senate Democrats worked to confirm 20 of President Bush's judicial nominees--all but one by voice vote. In the 2006 lameduck session, after Senate Democrats won the majority in the elections, Democrats agreed to confirm the 14 judicial nominations pending on the floor, but this package was blocked by a Republican Senator. In the most recent lameduck sessions, in 2010 and 2012, a total of 32 judicial nominees were confirmed. With the 2014 midterm elections behind us, I hope we will, as the incoming majority leader suggests, ``clear the decks'' on pending business so that we can start fresh next year. Currently, there are 16 district court nominations that have been pending before the full Senate for months and another eight district court nominations and one Court of International Trade nomination that will be reported out of the Judiciary Committee before the end of the month.…”