[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 167 (Wednesday, October 31, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S13590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NOMINATION OF JUDGE MICHAEL B. MUKASEY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today marks the 40th day since the 
nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General.
  The Mukasey nomination was the culmination of a process in which the 
President was extremely solicitous of the views of the Democratic 
majority.
  Let's recap. Our friends on the Democratic side of the aisle did not 
want the former Attorney General to continue in office and, as we all 
know, he resigned.
  Our Democratic colleagues wanted to be consulted on whom the next 
Attorney General should be. Well, the administration consulted 
extensively with our Democratic friends.
  Our Democratic colleagues did not want the former Solicitor General, 
Ted Olson, to be nominated. He, in my view, would have made an 
outstanding choice. But the administration did not nominate him.
  Our Democratic colleagues said if, instead, the President ``were to 
nominate a . . . conservative . . . like Mike Mukasey,'' he ``would get 
through the Senate very, very quickly.'' Well, the President didn't 
nominate somebody like Mike Mukasey; the President nominated Mike 
Mukasey himself. He received widespread acclaim for taking that step.
  So it is apparent the President acted in a very bipartisan fashion in 
reaching the decision he did to nominate Judge Mukasey.
  So did our Democratic colleagues reciprocate to that act of good 
faith? At this point, it is kind of difficult to say they have. First, 
they held up the nomination for weeks before even scheduling a 
hearing--an action--or, more precisely, an inaction--which the 
Washington Post termed ``irresponsible.''
  Then, despite the fact that Judge Mukasey testified for 2 days and 
answered 250 questions in the process, our Democratic colleagues asked 
him to answer an additional 500 written questions. By contrast, 
Attorney General Reno did not receive any written questions until after 
she was confirmed. Then it took over 2 weeks for a markup to be 
scheduled. I understand one now has been scheduled for next Tuesday, 
and I am certainly glad that has finally occurred, but it shouldn't 
have taken nearly this long.

  Months ago our Democratic colleagues told us ``this Nation needs a 
new Attorney General and it can't afford to wait.'' That was the cry on 
the other side: We need a new Attorney General and we can't afford to 
wait. Unfortunately, since then, we have been waiting and waiting and 
waiting. We have been waiting so long that Judge Mukasey's nomination 
is the longest pending Attorney General nomination in two decades.
  Now the good news is that the markup has been set. We need to get 
Judge Mukasey's nomination to the floor for an up-or-down vote as soon 
as possible.
  I think we have seen some unfortunate flareup of partisanship. 
Hopefully that will not continue and we can get Judge Mukasey to work 
down at the Justice Department where we all agree his services are very 
greatly needed.

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