Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I know the issue before us is to change the way the nominations are handled. I wish to express my appreciation for that act and ask my colleagues to support it. A number of the nominations come through the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. I have been the chairman of that committee, and am now the ranking member. There have been times when nearly 350 appointments have come through at one time, none of which are accompanied by any paperwork. This situation relates to the Public Health Service Corps nominees, which the Committee is required to report and confirm. However, there is no way to check on any of them because HELP Committee rules specifically state that routine paperwork does not need to be filed for these nominees. So it is a waste of time to take these nominees through the committee process and then to the floor. This bill would eliminate that need. Now, under the proposal, there are about 250 positions where any Senator can call for a nominee to go through regular order. So for these nominees, anybody who has a concern about a nominee the President appoints has the leverage to be able to take a look at that person, to voice their comments, and to have it considered in the regular order. I do see a great capability for us to be more productive under this new system, and that is what I would like to see. I would like to ask everybody to support the bill. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER.…”