[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 26, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          NOMINEE HELD HOSTAGE

  (Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we live in difficult 
times, as we all know. Yet, in the other body, the nomination of a 
brilliant young lawyer, Miguel Estrada, is being held hostage. Today is 
the fiftieth day of that tragic event, the fiftieth day of holding a 
man hostage using innuendoes and double standards and fake accusations 
and, again, double standards. A person who got here at 17, who worked, 
studied, became a brilliant jurist, worked under 2 presidents, one 
Democrat and one Republican, who deserves to be on the court, on the 
bench of this country.
  Again, I repeat, he is being held hostage, is being held to a higher 
standard, a different standard than every other judge that has gone 
through that illustrious body.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day to know that, again, with all of the 
difficult times and all of the difficult things going on, this one man 
is not being allowed to have a vote on the other floor.

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