[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 3 (Friday, January 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I wish to speak briefly on the progress 
we have made this week on a couple of matters. We will soon propound a 
list of nominations. There will be 43 nominations total. Two of those 
have already been considered; that is, the confirmation of two Federal 
judges. But there are 36 other nominations, including 10 Ambassadorial 
nominations which will be presented to the Senate in a short period of 
time.
  I thank colleagues on my side of the aisle in particular for their 
cooperative effort.
  A lot of these nominations have worked their way through the 
committee. Chairmen and members of the committees have cooperated with 
the administration. We are now in the position to move quite a large 
number of these executive nominations at the very beginning of this 
session of Congress. There are others we hope to move, including 
additional judges. But obviously we continue to hope the administration 
will work with us in making sure that those nominations have been 
properly vetted and that we have the confidence that all of the actions 
required prior to confirmation have been completed.
  We will continue to work with them as we have over the course of the 
last year. We have already reported and confirmed over 35 judges. I 
believe the number is now 38. We will have a lot more to confirm in the 
coming weeks and months.
  I thank in that regard Senator Leahy for his efforts and for his 
work. I know there was a colloquy and exchange in the Chamber over the 
course of the last hour with regard to judgeships and other issues. I 
thank him for his leadership and for the extraordinary effort he has 
been making.
  As I said at the beginning of this session, and at the beginning of 
last session, it is my policy, and it is the policy of our caucus, that 
once these matters have been brought to the floor on the Executive 
Calendar, they will get a vote. It may not be a direct vote, but it 
will be a vote. And we will continue to work with our colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to ensure that these votes are scheduled in a 
timely way.
  We have also begun consideration of the economic stimulus bill. I 
wish we could have accomplished more in the short time that we had. We 
will be back on the bill on Tuesday. We will work all through the day 
on Tuesday. There will be votes on Tuesday, beginning perhaps as early 
as Tuesday morning. We will also be in session on Monday, even though 
there will be no votes on Monday.
  Because of the Republican retreat, there will be no votes on 
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of next week. The Democratic single, 1-
day conference will take place on Wednesday.
  We will come back the following Monday, and Senators should expect 
votes on Monday of the following week. It is my hope that we can 
complete our work on the economic stimulus bill early in that week, the 
week after next.
  We have a lot of work to do. The economic stimulus package should be 
completed within the first couple of days, so we can move to the farm 
bill, election reform, and, of course, the energy bill.
  So in a very short period of time there is a great deal of work to be 
done. If necessary, I intend to file cloture on the economic stimulus 
bill in an effort to bring closure to our work on the bill. We have 
been debating it for weeks, one could say months in the last session of 
the Congress last year. There is no need to extend the debate in this 
case as well. We will have additional amendments. We will have 
additional votes. But at the end, we must conclude our work and move on 
one way or the other.
  As I have said in this Chamber on many occasions, what I view this 
legislation to be is nothing more, really, than a ticket to conference 
so we can continue to work and find some resolution. It would be ideal, 
of course, if the House would just take it up and pass it. That would 
be my first choice. But at the very least, it is a ticket to 
conference. It would be a good thing if we got to conference and began 
working out our differences in a way that would allow us to complete 
our work on the economic stimulus bill and, I might add, provide the 
unemployment benefits for 13 more weeks for millions of workers who are 
looking to us for some sign of hope that they are going to have the 
wherewithal to at least maintain their quality of life and their 
ability to buy groceries and pay their rent and pay their heating 
bills.
  So while this has not been as productive a week as I had hoped, we 
have ended it in a way that I think gives us some reason for additional 
confidence next week as we take up the bill, and certainly confidence 
with regard to the Executive Calendar and the nominations that will be 
confirmed this afternoon.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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