Filibustering of Judicial Nominees
FILIBUSTERING OF JUDICIAL NOMINEES
Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, we as senators have an enormous amount of work to do for the American people. For example, while our economy is strong, unfortunately gas prices are way too high. People are feeling those costs every time they fill up at the pump. This Senate needs to seriously address a long-term energy policy for this country, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
We have serious work to do to reform America's tax code, so it is fairer for all Americans, and leads to a more robust economy.
We have undertaken a debate on how to reform Social Security so it is stronger and more secure for future generations, as it has served millions so well already over the last 70 years.
Our road system needs improving. Millions of Americans take to the roads everyday to get to work and keep this country moving. It's critical the Senate pass a highway bill. In short, we have a formidable agenda before us. We welcome that challenge. I think that our constituents sent us here to get things done, not just to sit in these fancy chairs. But the Nation's business may soon come to an abrupt halt.
In the face of so much important work to be done, sadly, my Democratic friends on the other side of the aisle are promising to pull the plug on this chamber, and thus shut down the Government. Just because a majority of Senators want to restore the 200-year-old norms and traditions of the Senate, by granting a President's judicial nominees who have majority support the simple courtesy of an up-or-down vote, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are threatening to stop this Senate dead in its tracks.
An energy bill to begin to address the high cost of gasoline and reduce our dependence on foreign oil? They would say: Forget it.
A highway bill, to begin desperately needed repairs on bridges and roads across the country? They would say: Not a chance.
These and other priorities will not happen if the Democrats shut down the Government. Because they cannot have what no Senate minority has ever had in 200 years--the requirement of a supermajority for confirmation--they threaten to shut the Government down.
The American people by now must rightly be asking, ``How did we get in such a mess?''
It was not by accident. The Democrats did not stumble into this position. It was carefully conceived.
Four years ago, in May of 2001, the New York Times reported that 42 of the Senate's then-50 Democrats attended a private weekend retreat in Farmington, PA, to discuss a plan of attack against the President's judicial nominees.
According to this article, the unprecedented obstruction by the other side is not based on checks and balances, or the rights of the minority. It is about ideology. The Democrats invited speakers to their retreat who warned them that President Bush was planning to, ``pack the courts with staunch conservatives.''
Now, here's the clincher. According to the New York Times, one participant said:
It was important for the Senate to change the ground rules, and there was no obligation to confirm someone just because they are scholarly or erudite.
Let me make sure that last part came through loud and clear. The Democrats are accusing the Republicans, who merely want to restore the 200-year-tradition of giving judicial nominees with majority support an up-or-down vote, of some kind of power grab. Yet here is a 4-year-old admission that it is the Democrats who are clearly out to ``change the ground rules.'' They knew what they were doing. This was thoroughly premeditated.
That quote says it all. If a minority of the Senate does not get its way in obstructing judges from serving on our Nation's Federal courts, they will ``change the ground rules.'' They will shut down the Government. I say to my friends, I wouldn't take the extreme step of shutting the government down.
I ask unanimous consent to have this New York Times article of May 1, 2001 printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
http://thomas.loc.gov/