[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 48 (Wednesday, April 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               END THE FILIBUSTERS ON QUALIFIED NOMINEES

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, John Bolton is the President's nominee to be 
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. The Senate has not yet voted on his 
nomination. A few Members are holding up that vote so they can explore 
his treatment of lower-level staffers.
  Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen are two of the President's 
nominees to be Federal judges. The Senate has not yet voted on their 
nominations. A few Democrats have promised to hold up these votes so 
they can prove a political point.
  What do these three have in common, I mean, other than being victims 
of the Senate's partisan machinations? They are all highly qualified. 
They would all do a great job. They would all receive the support of a 
majority of Senators. They are all nominated for jobs that are 
currently vacant. That is right; the jobs the President has asked these 
people to do are not being done.
  That is not the President's fault. That is not Bill Frist's fault. 
Some Democrats paid a political price for obstructionism last November. 
It seems that some of them are still slow learners.

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