On the recordFebruary 4, 2010
If my two friends will yield on that point, it has gone way beyond anything I have seen in my 35 years in the Senate, by either Democrats or Republicans. It is ridiculous. I will give one example--not my committee, but I mentioned it the other day. During the height of the H1N1 flu, every morning you could pick up the paper or hear of children--little children--dying while there was an anonymous hold by the Republicans on the Surgeon General. You would think, particularly at a time such as that, you would want to have everybody you could have there. This was blocked for months and months and months. Finally, the hold was lifted and she was confirmed unanimously. We have had judges supported by both parties, and the nominations have come out of the committee. The distinguished deputy majority leader is a member of the committee, and he knows they have come out unanimously. Yet they are held up for months. We finally vote cloture, waste 3 days of the public's time--at a cost of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars--only to then have a vote and it be virtually unanimous. I mean, this is being childish. It goes beyond misusing a parliamentary procedure. It becomes childish. I thank my two colleagues for letting me speak to this.
