[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 18, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H3442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           FRIST'S PAST ACTIONS DO NOT SUPPORT TODAY'S WORDS

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, it is not in the American people's interest 
to change Senate rules that assure that all points of view are heard 
and which have been in place for over 200 years.
  Mr. Speaker, today Senator Frist is prepared to take the extreme 
action of upending historic Senate rules under the guise that he says 
all judicial nominees are entitled to an up or down vote.
  That is what he is saying today, but he was singing a different tune 
back when President Clinton was in the White House. Back in 2000, 
Republican Senators attempted to filibuster two of that 
administration's appointments to the 9th Circuit. Senator Frist joined 
some of his Republican colleagues back then in continuing a filibuster 
of nominee Richard Paez.
  There are also other ways to prevent up or down votes on the floor. 
They can stall them in committee, and that is what happened to 
President Clinton's nominees. More than one-third of Clinton's appeals 
court nominees during the last 4 years of his presidency were never 
given an up or down vote on the Senate floor.
  We did not hear Senator Frist demanding an up or down vote then, and 
while Democrats and President Clinton complained about the treatment of 
Clinton's nominees from Republicans at that time, they never came close 
to subverting 200 years of historic rules that have been in place to 
assure majority and minority opinions in that Chamber are heard.
  Sometimes, with one party rule, the majority becomes abusive in its 
use of power. This is just such an instance. The Senate as an 
institution belongs to the American people, to those who agree with the 
majorty and those who hold minority opinions all have a right to be 
heard. Under our Constitution and time-tested institutional procedures, 
let all our people's voices be heard.

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