Patrick Leahy

I would note there are 17 nominations pending on the Senate floor waiting for clearance by the Republicans.

I had hoped to also include the five nominees for the judicial emergency vacancies in the District of Arizona in this hearing, but we have not yet received the blue slips from the Arizona Senators.

In Rhode Island, under the leadership of Director Wall, we passed reforms that allowed inmates to earn credit toward their sentences.

It is a problem that Congress created, but it is also a problem that Congress can fix, and it is high time we do so.

I think the main drivers of this prison growth are front-end sentencing laws that were enacted by us in Congress, like the proliferation of mandatory minimum sentences.

We should be willing to reevaluate mandatory minimum sentences.

If we do nothing, we are choosing to let the corrections budget take away from the FBI's ability to disrupt terrorist groups.

I want to thank you for the prompt attention to concerns that I have raised and Senator Blumenthal and others have raised regarding the proposed closing of the only secure facility for female inmates in the Northeast.

Those are not choices my colleagues wish to make. Those are not smart choices.

Many States, led by Senator Hirono's home State of Hawaii's example, the HOPE program, have implemented parole systems that impose 'swift and certain' sanctions.

What is the parliamentary situation? The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate right now is considering the Estevez nomination, and the time is equally divided between both sides.

I was there, and I saw how hard the Senator worked to pass a continuing resolution--as a number of the Republican leadership of the House had asked and based on their assurances that we would use it. I would ask my friend, the majority…

The distinguished leader had the opportunity to serve in both bodies. I appreciate what he said about his staff and the other staff. Is it not the leader's observation that these staff people come here because of their love of this…

I thank the distinguished leader, because I know in my State of Vermont, people are happy, if they have children going to college, that they can keep them on their health insurance. Or if they have a spouse who had breast cancer, for…

The leader has noted a number of times that a small group in the House of Representatives has held up and closed the government because they want to do away with what they call ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act. So my question to the…

I appreciate the fact that it now has passed. I thank the Republican leader and others. ____________________

I applaud the senior Senator from Michigan for his persistence on this matter. He has brought the attention of the Senate to it time and time again, as well as that of the American public. Let us hope he is listened to. He should be.

Overburdened judges almost by definition cannot provide the level of time and care and reflection they would like to for each case before them.

It is overall because of the quality of our judiciary that John Adams' vision that the United States be a Government of laws and not men still holds true today.

Congress has not comprehensively addressed judicial staffing levels since 1990, 23 years ago.

We must not, however, take our federal judiciary for granted.

Today we are here about delays in justice in the regulatory process that affect millions of Americans who depend on clean water and clean air, on safe products, who depend on enforcement of the law when they go to work or come home, use…

In a recent study of three key Environmental Protection Agency programs, the Competitive Enterprise Institute found that 98 percent of EPA rules since 1993 have been promulgated late by an average of 2,072 days after their statutory…

The final rule ended lift-slab construction. It came 3 years after L'Ambiance Plaza, too late for those 28 people who died needlessly and tragically on that day.

Reserving the right to object, I understand the leader is going to make a request. I wonder if the Senator would withhold his request for a couple of minutes.