[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 22 (Thursday, February 3, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Nominations

  Madam President, now on noms progress, yesterday was a good day on 
the Senate floor. We held 12 rollcall votes--yep, 12 rollcall votes--on 
a number of President Biden's nominees to his administration and to the 
Federal bench. Half of these votes took place in the evening. I am glad 
we dispensed with them efficiently and without needless delay. I want 
to thank all my colleagues for their cooperation and flexibility as we 
moved through the large number of votes.
  We want to be able to keep doing this. We want to be able to work 
with similar speed next time a large number of votes are lined up on 
the floor. Maybe some of them, like last night, will go by voice. Some 
of these, there is no reason to have a vote on, except a few--just a 
handful; not the vast majority of the other party--insist we have votes 
on all of them, which only lengthens the process but doesn't deter us 
from moving forward on these nominees.
  Of the 20 nominees I filed at the end of the last work period, we 
have confirmed or invoked cloture on all but 3 of them, and today, we 
expect to hold cloture votes on the other 3.
  Again, it is an unusually large number of rollcall votes for nominees 
who typically pass with unanimous consent. Obstruction from a small 
group of Republicans--only a small group; not the majority; not close 
to the majority--has forced us to work through these individuals one by 
one. But last night, with the cooperation of everybody, we were able to 
move quickly. So I thank my colleagues for their good work and 
cooperation.