[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 14, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S595-S599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 NOMINATION OF ADALBERTO JOSE JORDAN TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE 
                  FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.


                    Arizona's Centennial Celebration

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize an important 
milestone in our Nation's history.
  On February 14, 1912, Arizona officially became the 48th member of 
these 50 United States. I am proud to salute my home State on this her 
centennial celebration.
  Yes, we were the last of the contiguous 48 States to join, but we 
were certainly not the least of them. Today I would like to tell you 
just a little bit about why I say that is so.
  Arizona is not the largest or the oldest member of the Union. It did 
not participate in the Revolutionary War. It does not border an ocean 
or one of the Great Lakes. The Declaration of Independence and the 
Constitution do not bear a single Arizonan signature. Yet there is 
something about Arizona that is great, something that truly sets the 
Grand Canyon State apart from the rest. The Grand Canyon, of course, 
comes to mind.
  I would like to quote one of America's most famous explorers, John 
Wesley Powell, who once said:

       The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately 
     represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The 
     resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in 
     attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration 
     combined must fail.

  I agree. I have hiked the Grand Canyon. I have seen it from above, 
and I have seen it from below. Words literally cannot describe its 
power or its beauty. That is why every year millions of tourists come 
from all corners of our Nation and from across the Atlantic and the 
Pacific to experience the majesty we are fortunate enough to have right 
there in our own backyard.
  But as big as it is, the Grand Canyon is just a small part of the 
Arizona story. There are the Sedona Red Rocks, the beautiful White 
Mountains, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, Monument Valley, 
Saguaro National Park, the 12,000-foot San Francisco Peaks, and 
countless other natural wonders that span across our deserts and 
through our forests. There are almost 4,000 peaks and summits in our 
State alone.
  Arizona is also home to manmade marvels, including innovative 
projects that have allowed much needed freshwater to flow to our 
communities. These include the Hoover Dam, the Glen Canyon Dam, the 
Central Arizona Project, the Salt River Project and its keystone 
element, and the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.
  Arizonans share the land with owls, ocelots, and eagles, jaguars, 
lots of rattlesnakes, and falcons. Our landscape is foliated not just 
with agave and cacti but with majestic aspen, fir, and spruce and the 
largest Ponderosa pine forest in the world.
  We are rich in natural resources. From an early age, all Arizonans 
learn about the State's five Cs: copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and 
climate.
  Copper. The mineral that attracted many Arizonans to our State in the 
first place has been used by American Indians in tool and weaponmaking 
for centuries. Today, Arizona produces more copper than every other 
State combined, and it is now being used to develop the alternative 
energy technologies and vehicles of tomorrow.
  Cattle. Along with sheep and hogs, the ranching of cattle is deeply 
imprinted on our State's cowboy culture and continues to help drive our 
economy today.
  Cotton. One of our most important cash crops at the turn of the last 
century, cotton is still an important industry in our State. This crop, 
including our very own Pima long-staple variety, is used to produce the 
clothing, fertilizer, fuel, and cooking oil used by millions of 
Americans every day.

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  Citrus. The harvesting of fruits such as lemons and oranges is one of 
the important elements of Arizona's agricultural industry, with a 
history that runs deep in our State. We now export about $40 million in 
fruits and preparations every year.
  Climate. Arizona mornings are warm and filled with sunshine, and our 
sunsets are the best anywhere. We may not always have a white 
Christmas, but we do have a booming tourism industry that attracts 
nearly 37 million--we call them snowbirds, conservationists, and 
adventurers--every year.
  These five Cs, along with the natural treasures I mentioned earlier, 
are the physical expression of our State motto: ``Ditat Deus'' or ``God 
Enriches.'' Because of this, Arizonans are fiercely protective of the 
ecological riches that exist around them.
  We honor nature for its beauty, but we also respect it for its power. 
I do not need to tell you about Arizona's heat. Some of my colleagues 
in this Chamber are known to complain when it reaches 80 degrees in 
Washington. Well, we Arizonans start to get warm when the mercury hits 
120. It gets cold at night too. In fact, Arizona can yield the Nation's 
highest and lowest temperatures in the very same day.

  There are forest fires. Last summer, we saw the largest such fire in 
our history, the Wallow megafire, burn more than 840 square miles of 
our treasured landscape. But we have picked ourselves up, and we are 
rebuilding--just like we always do. The lessons we have learned from 
the Wallow fire will help us defend against similar megafires in the 
future.
  Some of Arizona's forebears were the prospectors and the ranchers who 
gave up everything for a chance at a better life. Some were the 
adventurers and cowboys who thrived on freedom and danger. Some of us 
can trace our history directly back to the Spanish missionaries or to 
our longstanding dynamic Hispanic community that has so greatly 
influenced our distinctive culture and cuisine. Many of us are direct 
descendants of the very first Arizonans--the 21 great American Indian 
tribes who continue to teach us important lessons about working with 
rather than against the expansive natural beauty and danger that 
surrounds us.
  These are Arizona's founding fathers. While each has influenced our 
State in a unique way, all share these common traits: a strong sense of 
independence and a willingness to persevere against the odds.
  That is, I believe, one of the reasons Arizona has such outsized 
national influence compared to its relatively small size and 
population. Indeed, the fierce wind of independence that rolls across 
our desert landscape has propelled not one but two of our leaders to 
national political prominence in just the past few decades. We may not 
have had an Arizonan in the White House--yet--but there are few States 
that can boast a single 20th or 21st century major party Presidential 
nominee, let alone two in our Barry Goldwater and John McCain.
  My friends on the other side of the aisle will no doubt recall their 
very able Senate majority leader from Arizona, Ernest McFarland. They 
will also remember Representative Mo Udall and Senator Carl Hayden, who 
served an amazing 57 years in Congress, 42 of them in this Chamber 
alone. To put that into perspective, that is longer than Arizona's 
senior Senator and I have served in the Congress combined.
  Our State has both nurtured and welcomed respected jurists such as 
William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor, world-renowned architects 
such as Frank Lloyd Wright, entertainers such as Waylon Jennings, Linda 
Ronstadt, and Glen Campbell--even Stephenie Meyer, author of the 
Twilight series. Also, of course, I would be remiss if I neglected 
Steven Spielberg. He, too, embraced Arizona's adventurous, 
entrepreneurial spirit, turning his teenage moviemaking hobby in 
Scottsdale and Phoenix into a multimillion-dollar Hollywood empire. Had 
he been raised in another State, one without our Arizona spirit, would 
the world have known classics today such as ``ET'' and ``Jaws''? We may 
never know.
  One thing we do know is that Arizona also gave rise to the Navajo 
Code Talkers. It is a shame more Americans are not aware of the 
talkers' incredible story. Their official Web site puts it this way:

       It is a great American story that is still largely 
     unknown--the story of a group of young Navajo men who 
     answered the call of duty, who performed a service no one 
     else could, and in the process became great warriors and 
     patriots. Their unbreakable code saved thousands of lives and 
     helped end World War II.

  Their code, of course, was the Navajo language.
  Some of those young men were simple sheepherders on Arizona's great 
Navajo reservation until our Nation called them to serve. They did so 
with honor. They became American heroes in the process. Without them, 
we may never have achieved victory in the Pacific theater, and I am 
proud to pay tribute to these warriors today. Arizona honors them, and 
every American owes the Code Talkers a debt of gratitude.
  These are just some of the many reasons I am proud to call myself an 
Arizonian. I was not born in Arizona. I became one by choice, and it 
was one of the most consequential decisions I ever made. I came as a 
young man to attend the University of Arizona. There I met my wife 
Carol, and together we raised two children, both of whom I am proud to 
say learned their five Cs from a very early age. I have not left 
Arizona since my days at the University of Arizona, nor do I think I 
ever would or could. There is something about the beauty that 
surrounds, the spirit that encompasses, the Sun that paints the 
landscape every morning. There is something different about Arizona, 
and I am proud of that difference. We are a special people with a 
distinctive place in the American mosaic.
  I offer my congratulations to our Governor Jan Brewer, to my Arizona 
colleagues in the House and Senate, and to my constituents throughout 
our State on this historic centennial anniversary.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, it is my distinct privilege to join with 
my beloved friend Jon Kyl to speak in honor of the centennial 
anniversary of Arizona statehood. One hundred years ago, on February 
14, 1912, the State of Arizona was officially admitted to the Union, 
effectively completing the contiguous lower 48 States. Americans today 
recognize Arizona as the thriving center of the Sunbelt, known for its 
ability to attract businesses, manufacturing, and tourists from around 
the world. The Valley of the Sun alone supports about 4 million people, 
and our State capital--Phoenix--is the Nation's sixth largest city.
  Compared to its humble beginnings, Arizona has enjoyed tremendous 
growth and productivity, but this was not always so. Arizona's history 
began over 10,000 years ago with the migration of early Native American 
tribes to the region. For centuries, the Anasazi, Hohokam, and other 
peoples flourished in the forested highlands and Sonoran Desert 
lowlands. Many of the Indian tribes in Arizona today are the proud 
descendants of those ancient peoples.
  It was not until 1528, with the arrival of Spanish missionaries and 
conquistadors in the towns of Tubac and Tucson, that the land and 
people were first reshaped. Spanish colonization eventually gave way to 
Mexican independence in 1821.
  In 1848 the Mexican-American War concluded, with Mexico ceding much 
of Arizona to the United States.
  In 1853 President Franklin Pierce saw an opportunity to build a 
transcontinental railroad connecting the South with southern California 
and purchased the remaining bottom half of the Arizona Territory from 
Mexico for $10 million--what today would be the equivalent of $244 
million. It was around this time that American pioneers began to settle 
the towns of Prescott, Flagstaff, picturesque Sedona and Yuma, the 
gateway to gold-rich California.
  During the Civil War, Arizona became a short-lived strategic interest

[[Page S597]]

for the Confederacy. The war's western-most battle was fought in 
Arizona at Picacho Peak, about 50 miles north of Tucson. It reportedly 
lasted 90 minutes and involved about 25 solders.
  In the years that followed, cattlemen and mining speculators flocked 
to develop Arizona's natural resources in towns such as Tombstone, 
Bisbee, Show Low, and St. John's, the birthplace of our late and 
beloved Morris Udall. The boundaries of the State soon began to take 
shape thanks to explorers such as John Wesley Powell, whose famous 3-
month expedition down the mighty Colorado charted the first known 
passage through the Grand Canyon.
  Efforts in Congress to pass statehood began around the turn of the 
20th century. One proposal sought to combine the territories of Arizona 
and New Mexico into one massive State. But Arizona settlers would have 
none of it, and it is unlikely that the people of New Mexico were all 
too excited about the plan either.
  At the time, many outsiders did not fully appreciate Arizona's 
untapped potential. They considered it nothing more than a desert 
wasteland, economically desolate and virtually uninhabitable. One of 
Arizona's first territorial representatives, Henry Ashurst, is known to 
have risen in Congress to argue that ``all that Arizona needs to 
flourish is good people and water,'' to which an east cost Member 
supposedly retorted, ``You could say the same about hell.''
  Arizonans eventually succeeded in convincing Congress to grant 
statehood. This was partially due to the construction of the Theodore 
Roosevelt Dam in 1903, as part of the Salt River project in Phoenix, 
one of the Nation's first Federal reclamation projects. The Roosevelt 
Dam channeled lifegiving water from the Salt River into a series of 
irrigation canals that overlay a canal network dug by the Hohokam 
Indians more than 1,000 years prior. Fueled by irrigation water and 
hydroelectric power, the small community of Phoenix, which started as a 
cavalry hay camp at Fort McDowell, began its rise to national 
prominence.
  My predecessor in the Senate, the late Senator Barry Goldwater, is 
among Arizona's most celebrated statesmen, having served five terms in 
this body. He was born in Phoenix when Arizona was still a territory 
and witnessed remarkable changes to the Grand Canyon State throughout 
his lifetime.
  The Smithsonian magazine recently republished an op-ed Goldwater 
wrote in 1962 called ``Arizona's Next Fifty years'' where he imagines 
what Arizona would look like by 2012. Keep in mind that Arizona had 
barely 1 million people living across the entire State in the 1960s. 
Modern air-conditioning technology was relatively new, and the 1,500 
miles of interstate crisscrossing the State today was still on the 
drawing board. Yet Goldwater correctly predicted a rapid population 
growth, comparing Phoenix to other major U.S. cities. I would like to 
share some of his predictions. He wrote:

       It will be the deserts that will support the majority of 
     the new homes. Phoenix will have a population of about three 
     million and Tucson will grow to about one and one-half 
     million. Phoenix and Tucson will remain the two largest 
     cities in the state, with Phoenix being either the fourth or 
     sixth largest city in the United States. The growth of 
     Glendale, Peoria and Avondale will parallel that of Phoenix 
     proper, so that 50 years from now, all of these cities will 
     be contiguous with each other and with Phoenix, and will form 
     a city complex not unlike the present city of Los Angeles.

  Anyone who has flown into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport 
can see from the sky, day or night, the infinite grid-like layout of 
the metro Phoenix area. Senator Goldwater understood that this kind of 
development would fundamentally alter how Arizonans relate to the 
desert, writing:

       The man of 2012 would not be able to walk from his doorstep 
     into this pastel paradise with its saguaro, the mesquite, the 
     leap of a jackrabbit . . . or the smell of freshly wet 
     greasewood, because people will have transgressed on the 
     desert for homesites to accommodate a population of slightly 
     over 10 million people. The forests will be protected, as 
     well as our parks and monuments. But even they will have as 
     neighbors the people who today enjoy hardships to visit them.

  Despite the challenges of increased demand on our natural resources, 
Senator Goldwater correctly believed that the State would mature into a 
modern, industrious economy with global connections. He said:

       Arizona's principal economic growth will be in the 
     industrial field, with emphasis being on items of a 
     technological nature. It will not be many years before 
     industry will become an important part of the economies of 
     most Arizona cities, whereas today it is more or less 
     confined to a few. Arizona will continue to be the haven for 
     people who seek an outlet for initiative and a reward for 
     work. The frontier challenges will exist then as they do 
     today, for man's progress never stops unless man stops it. 
     Fortunately for our State, our men have always and will 
     always want to go forward, not backward.

  So what is Arizona today? Arizona's open skies and fair climate offer 
the U.S. military an ideal training environment for our soldiers and 
high-tech combat systems. Luke Air Force Base outside of Phoenix will 
be home to the F-35 fighter jet, the most advanced fighter in the 
world. The U.S. Army Intelligence Center is located at Fort Huachuca in 
southern Arizona, where UAV training serves a unique and irreplaceable 
national security mission. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, 
the Nation's premier A-10 Warthog base, hosts an array of special 
operations aircraft and will hopefully continue to grow in support of 
our military's drone fleet. Across the highway, Arizonans in the Air 
National Guard fly the newest F-16s to train foreign pilots from over 
20 countries, and virtually every Marine Corps fixed-wing squadron that 
participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm underwent 
predeployment training at Yuma Marine Corps Station. Arizona is also 
home to nearly 600,000 veterans, many of whom have returned to their 
families and loved ones from Iraq and Afghanistan.
  More copper is mined in Arizona than all of the other States 
combined, and the Morenci Mine is the largest copper producer in all of 
North America.
  Two of the country's largest manmade lakes are in Arizona, Lake 
Powell and Lake Mead--the result of Hoover Dam--which supply drinking 
water to over 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, and California.
  Yuma, AZ, an agricultural powerhouse, produces about 90 percent of 
the country's winter vegetables. The lettuce in your salad this month 
almost certainly came from Arizona.
  We operate the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, located about 
55 miles west of Phoenix, which generates more electricity than any 
other powerplant in the Nation.
  It is home to three major State universities: Arizona State 
University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University, 
with an undergraduate and graduate population of over 130,000.
  Arizona is a leader in manufacturing information, medical, and 
defense technologies. We are headquarters to TGen, the Translational 
Genomics Research Institute, which conducts cutting-edge genetic 
research with the goal of curing Alzheimer's, autism, Parkinson's, and 
numerous forms of cancer.
  We support critical scientific endeavors to discover our place in the 
universe: Arizona's unique landscapes, such as Meteor Crater and the 
Painted Desert, once played a key role in the NASA Apollo training 
missions. The world's largest solar telescope is located at Kitt Peak 
National Observatory in Sells, AZ. The University of Arizona is 
actively involved in the Cassini, Mars Lander, and Mars Rover missions, 
as well as NASA's Osiris-Rex mission, which will be the first 
spacecraft to land on an asteroid and return a sample to Earth.
  It is also believed that the chimichanga has its origins in Arizona, 
although its exact hometown is still a matter of vigorous historical 
debate among locals.
  I am immensely proud of Arizona's rich history, and I am humbled to 
represent a State that has earned a special place in the American 
consciousness. Even when I travel overseas, it is seldom I meet an 
individual who doesn't know where the Grand Canyon is or isn't 
captivated by the tales of the Old West or doesn't admire the rugged 
individualism of Arizona's frontiersmen. I cannot presume to exercise 
the kind of predictive abilities that Senator Goldwater displayed in 
his article. All I can say is that Arizona's future is perhaps best 
prophesized by reflecting on our legacy--judging our achievements 
against our intrepid beginnings. For as

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long as Arizona stays true to the pioneer spirit, I believe her best 
days are yet to come.
  If I might ask the indulgence to read a short piece that I put in a 
forward to a book by Lisa Schnebly Heidinger, ``Arizona: 100 Years 
Grand,'' the official book of Arizona's Centennial:

       Near the end of his life, Barry Goldwater tried to describe 
     to an interviewer his affection for Arizona. He started to 
     identify some of the many natural wonders so beloved by 
     Arizonans when he became emotional. `Arizona,' he proclaimed, 
     `is 113,400 square miles of heaven that God cut out.' 
     Fighting back tears, and unable to continue at length, he 
     managed only to add, `I love it so much.'
       For much of my life I had been rootless. My father was a 
     naval officer and my childhood was an itinerant one as we 
     moved from one base to another more times than I can 
     enumerate. Following in his footsteps, I, too, made my home 
     in the United States Navy, and the only place I lived for 
     more than a year or two was an unexpectedly lengthy stay in a 
     foreign country that would not let me leave and would have 
     preferred I had never come.
       Except for that period of involuntary residence, I had 
     always lived my life on the move, part of a tradition that 
     compensated me in other ways for the hometown it denied me. I 
     had no connection to one place; no safe harbor where I could 
     rest without care. Landscapes and characters all passed too 
     quickly to form the attachments of shared history and love 
     that calm your heart when age finally cages your 
     restlessness.
       I was nearly forty-five years old before I could claim a 
     hometown. My ambitions brought me to Arizona, and my work 
     keeps me away from here for more than half my time. But 
     Arizona has given me a home, and in the thirty years that 
     have passed since I moved here, it has worked its magic on me 
     and enchanted me and claimed me.
       In those thirty years I've been to almost every community 
     that Arizonans carved from the wilderness and made thrive: 
     places that have never stopped growing; and places where 
     opportunities were exhausted and were abandoned to history; 
     and places that rose and declined and were re-imagined and 
     made to prosper again by the hard working, self starting 
     dreamers Arizona attracts in such large numbers. I've 
     marveled at the resourcefulness and vision of generations of 
     Arizonans in Yuma and Page, Jerome and Kingman, Bisbee and 
     Flagstaff, who knew success and failure, who struggled, 
     achieved, lost and struggled again to build from their 
     freedom and opportunities in the challenging and beautiful 
     places that had won their hearts, strong, prospering and 
     decent communities.
       At the end of every election, I've stood on the courthouse 
     steps in Prescott, our old territorial capital, and thought 
     of the pioneering families whose names still resonate in 
     contemporary public affairs like Udall and Goldwater. I look 
     at the Bucky O'Neill monument, that memorial to the Rough 
     Riders of whom he was among the roughest and bravest, and 
     remember the names of Arizonans, of every station and walk of 
     life, who risked everything so that the freedom Arizonans 
     cherish so dearly and make such good use of would be 
     birthright of all; names like Frank Luke and Ira Hayes, Lori 
     Piestewa and Pat Tillman.
       I've experienced every scene of spectacular beauty this 
     blessed, bountiful, beautiful state possesses. I've hiked 
     Canyon de Chelly, Chiricahua, and rim to rim in the greatest 
     of our natural wonders, the Grand Canyon. I've rafted down 
     the Colorado. I've walked the trails of Saguaro National 
     Park; been struck mute by the awe-inspiring landscape of 
     Monument Valley; and spent countless happy hours following 
     hidden paths in our wilderness areas. I've houseboated on 
     Lake Powell. Many times, I've driven through the desert in 
     spring after a wet winter and felt myself become emotional as 
     I marveled at the profusion of vivid colors, the mesmerizing 
     beauty of desert wildflowers in bloom.
       We have a home between Cottonwood and Sedona, to where my 
     family escapes whenever we have the chance. It's on a bend of 
     Oak Creek, surrounded by hills, a ghost ranch and Indian 
     caves, adorned by fruit orchards and roses, and shaded by 
     tall cottonwoods and sycamores. So many species of birds make 
     their home there I have lost count of them. Common black 
     hawks return annually to their nest in the sycamore beneath 
     which I drink my morning coffee and give thanks for the 
     blessing of living in such natural splendor. I have never in 
     my life loved a place more. And when my public life is over, 
     I will spend the remainder of my days there giving thanks, 
     and enjoying the happiness of belonging to someplace so 
     beautiful, smaller and more intimate than a nation that spans 
     a continent.
       The State of Arizona is approaching its centennial. A 
     hundred years of audacious and difficult undertakings, of 
     dreams won and lost and sought again, of progress and 
     struggle and resilience. It's a rough and tumble history; 
     colorful, heroic, bold and inspiring, like the character of 
     the people who made it. You'll see it celebrated 
     appropriately in this splendid book. And you'll glimpse the 
     future that today's Arizonans, the dreamers and risk takers, 
     lovers of freedom, captivated by the stunning landscapes and 
     resilient, enterprising communities that have worked their 
     magic on them, will build. It will be a future worthy of our 
     predecessors' achievements and legacies; a future of 
     adversity overcome and opportunities for all. We will change, 
     as all places do. Others will come, as I once came, to make a 
     new home or find the only home they ever really had in towns 
     and cities and rural communities that will be better for 
     their presence and contributions. They will face the 
     challenges of their time and experience unexpected setbacks 
     but they will stick with it, work harder, dream bigger and 
     prevail. And a hundred years from now, their history, 
     character and accomplishments will inspire their fortunate 
     descendents and the newcomers who will come here to live in 
     beauty and make the most of their lives.
       We will change, but the values and beauty we treasure will 
     remain intact. Arizona is 113,400 square miles of heaven that 
     God cut out and Arizonans mean to keep it so. We love it that 
     much.

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  (The remarks of Mr. Lieberman, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Rockefeller 
pertaining to the introduction of S. 2105 are located in today's Record 
under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Republican Senators delayed a final vote on 
the nomination of Judge Adalberto Jordan of Florida even though the 
Senate voted 89-5 last night to end a Republican filibuster that has 
already prevented a vote for 4 months. This is a consensus nominee who 
Senator Nelson has been strongly supporting and who Senator Rubio also 
supports. He should have been confirmed 4 months ago. He should have 
been confirmed last night after the overwhelming cloture vote. Instead, 
obstruction needlessly delayed the Senate acting to fill the emergency 
judicial vacancy on the Eleventh Circuit.
  Senator Nelson has worked hard for this nomination, working to get 
Judge Jordan's nomination cleared by every Democratic Senator in 
October immediately after it was reported unanimously by the Judiciary 
Committee. We were ready to vote in October. We were ready to vote in 
November. We were ready to vote before the end of the last session of 
Congress in December. It is hard to believe that it is now the middle 
of February, over 4 months after Judge Jordan's nomination was reported 
with the support of every Democrat and every Republican on the 
Judiciary Committee, and the Senate still has not voted to fill this 
judicial emergency vacancy affecting the people of Florida, Georgia and 
Alabama. I appreciate why Senator Nelson is frustrated. I understand 
why Hispanics for a Fair Judiciary and the Hispanic National Bar 
Association are, too.
  Let me refer to some of the reporting on this. One post begins:

       So, here's the absurdity of our judicial confirmation 
     process--the full Senate voted 89-5 to invoke cloture, 
     meaning that Judge Jordan's nomination to the 11th Circuit 
     would finally come to a vote. But then Senator Nelson said 
     that one Senator is holding up the merits vote by demanding 
     30 more hours of `debate' post-cloture. Senators Leahy and 
     Boxer both then commented how ridiculous such a request was, 
     but that's the way it is. It looks like we'll have [to] wait 
     another 30 hours for Judge Jordan to move up to the 11th. 
     Silliness in our Congress . . . .

  The article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports:

       South Florida lawyers praise him. Both of Florida's U.S. 
     senators have recommended him. And the Senate Judiciary 
     Committee voted unanimously to approve his nomination.
       But U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan of South Florida 
     has been blocked for four months from rising to the 11th 
     Circuit Court of Appeals, the latest sign of a polarized and 
     dysfunctional Senate.
       A Senate filibuster that has kept Jordan waiting and the 
     appellate court undermanned fizzled on Monday when the Senate 
     voted 89-5 to move toward a final confirmation vote.
       But Jordan is still waiting because one senator . . . 
     objected to attempts to complete action on Monday . . . .

  I have not heard from any Republican Senators objecting to this Judge 
explaining what they find wrong with this highly-qualified Cuban 
American. I am at a loss as to why Republican Senators continue to 
delay a vote on this outstanding nominee. This nominee is beyond 
reproach. This is another nomination battle that has nothing to do with 
the nominee and his qualifications. This is another example of 
obstruction based on a collateral objective. The people of Florida, 
Georgia and Alabama should not be made to suffer a judicial emergency 
vacancy

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when this highly-qualified nominee should be confirmed without further 
delay. Nor did anyone come forward to explain the Senate Republicans' 
delay for the last 4 months. Cloture has been invoked by the Senate and 
the filibuster will be ended. There was no good reason to continue to 
hold up a vote that has already been delayed for 4 months.
  When I first became chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 2001, I 
followed a time when Senate Republicans, who had been in the majority, 
had pocket filibustered more than 60 of President Clinton's judicial 
nominations, blocking them with secret holds in backrooms and 
cloakrooms, obstructing more with winks and nods, but with little to no 
public explanation or accountability. I worked hard to change that and 
to open up the process. I sought to bring daylight to the process by 
making the consultation with home State Senators public so that the 
Senate Republicans' abuses during the Clinton years would not be 
repeated.
  When Senate Democrats opposed some of President Bush's most 
ideological nominees, we did so openly, saying why we opposed them. And 
when there were consensus nominees--nominees with the support of both 
Democrats and Republicans--we moved them quickly so they could begin 
serving the American people. That is how we reduced vacancies in the 
Presidential election years of 2004 and 2008 to the lowest levels in 
decades. That is how we confirmed 205 of President Bush's judicial 
nominees in his first term.
  Now we see the reverse of how we treated President Bush's nominees. 
Senate Republicans do not move quickly to consider consensus nominees, 
like the 15 still on the Senate calendar that were reported unanimously 
last year and should have had a Senate vote last year. Instead, as we 
are seeing today and have seen all too often, Senate Republicans 
obstruct and delay even consensus nominees, leaving us 45 judicial 
nominees behind the pace we set for confirming President Bush's 
judicial nominees. That is why vacancies remain so high, at 86, over 3 
years into President Obama's first term. Vacancies are nearly double 
what they were at this point in President Bush's third year. That is 
why half of all Americans--nearly 160 million--live in circuits or 
districts with a judicial vacancy that could have a judge if Senate 
Republicans would only consent to vote on judicial nominees that have 
been favorably voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee and have been 
on the Senate executive calendar since last year.
  This is an area where we should be working for the American people, 
and putting their needs first. This is a nomination that has the strong 
and committed support of the senior Senator from Florida, Senator 
Nelson, as well as that of Senator Rubio, Florida's Republican Senator. 
Judge Jordan had the unanimous support of every Republican and every 
Democrat on the Judiciary Committee when we voted last October, 
although one Republican switched his vote last night to support the 
filibuster of Judge Jordan's nomination. This is the nomination of a 
judge, Judge Jordan, who was confirmed to the district court by a vote 
of 93 to one in 1999, even while Senate Republicans were pocket 
filibustering more than 60 of President Clinton's judicial nominees.
  I regret that Republican Senators chose to delay a final vote on 
Judge Jordan's confirmation. He is a fine man who, after emigrating 
from Havana, Cuba at the age of 6 went on to graduate summa cum laude 
from the University of Miami law school and clerk for Justice Sandra 
Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as Federal prosecutor 
and Federal judge. The needless delay of Judge Jordan's confirmation is 
an example of the harmful tactics that have all but paralyzed the 
Senate confirmation process and are damaging our Federal courts.
  It should not take 4 months and require a cloture motion to proceed 
to a nomination such as that of Judge Jordan to fill a judicial 
emergency vacancy on the Eleventh Circuit. It should not take more 
months and more cloture motions before the Senate finally votes on the 
nearly 20 other superbly-qualified judicial nominees who have been 
stalled by Senate Republicans for months while vacancies continue to 
plague our Federal courts and delay justice for the American people. 
The American people need and deserve Federal courts ready to serve 
them, not empty benches and long delays.

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