Political Quotes

“as the Senate considers possible amendments to the Vacancies Act, we have occasion to focus on the Senate's advice and consent role for all presidential nominations and the American people have an opportunity to review how well, or how badly, this Senate has fulfilled that constitutionally-mandated role. It is important to explore ways to help the Executive Branch improve the process by which the President nominates, the Senate confirms and then the President appoints people to serve in important positions within the executive and judicial branches of our federal government. Indeed, I have often joined with Senator Byrd to defend the authority of the Senate on this issue and to protect the Senate's role against the executive encroachments by way of excessive use of the recess appointment power. I recall when the Reagan and Bush administrations were abusing the power of recess appointment and note, by contrast, how sparingly President Clinton has used that constitutional authority.”