[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 199 (Thursday, December 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S7003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Lawrence VanDyke

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, the Republican majority leader was on 
the floor a little earlier, and he talked about the business of the 
Senate and how busy we are in the Senate. I would like to state for the 
record, so far in the calendar year 2019, on the floor of this U.S. 
Senate, where the greatest deliberative body meets and considers the 
lofty issues of our time, in the year 2019--currently this year--we 
have considered 22 amendments in the entire year--22 amendments.
  Madam President, six of them were offered by the junior Senator from 
Kentucky. One Senator had six amendments: Senator Rand Paul. They were 
all defeated. Then some 16 other amendments were offered.
  To put that into perspective, on a good day in the Senate, when the 
Senate was the Senate, there would be 10 amendments; bills would come 
to the floor; we would debate; amendments would be adopted. Some would 
lose. People would give speeches. We would pass legislation, send it 
over to the House, go to a conference. We don't do that anymore.
  Under Senator McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, we do 
not do that anymore. There were 22 amendments in the course of the 
entire year. If we were paid for the actual piecework that we do, we 
would not get a paycheck this year because we haven't done anything.
  I will take that back. What we have done is to fill as many Federal 
court vacancies as possible with some of the most unqualified people 
ever offered by a President of the United States. This week, a man 
named VanDyke is being named to the court in Nevada. He has such a 
limited connection with Nevada that both Nevada Senators refuse to 
approve him for this court appointment. He has no connection to their 
State, but he was chosen by the White House.
  He went through a background check by the American Bar Association, 
and they concluded unanimously that he was unqualified to be a Federal 
judge--unqualified. He is not the first. Under this President, we have 
had nine different court nominees found unqualified by the American Bar 
Association. You say, Well, that is going to happen, lawyers disagree.
  Do you know how many were found unqualified under the Obama 
administration in 8 years? None, not one. There are nine unqualified 
men and women now with lifetime appointments on the Federal bench 
because, for Senator McConnell, that is his priority: Fill the bench 
with people of his political stripe at any cost.
  Take up legislation? No. The Democratically-controlled House of 
Representatives has sent us over 200 different measures to consider on 
the floor of the Senate. Senator McConnell has refused. He will not 
take up any legislation. He is very proud of it. To his credit, he is 
not ashamed or embarrassed. He says to call himself the Grim Reaper 
when it comes to measures coming over from the House. He is here to 
kill them, and he has done a pretty good job of that, if that is his 
goal in what he wants to achieve. When I hear him come to the floor and 
say we are not doing enough in the Senate--22 amendments in 1 year. I 
say to Senator McConnell, you have been in the Senate for a long time. 
You know that that number tells the whole story.