[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17040-17041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I regret that the President and the 
Republican leadership in the Senate continue to choose division over 
cooperation and confrontation over consensus on the Presidents' most 
controversial judicial nominees. Senators can work together, 
Republicans and Democrats. The conflict we are experiencing on the 
Senate floor, which has the collateral consequence of disrupting 
important and unfinished work of the Senate, is by Republican partisan 
design. It is bad for the Senate and the country.
  Earlier this morning I was at the White House for the signing of the 
Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act. Senator Campbell and I were the 
lead sponsors in the Senate on this successful effort, which we know as 
the ``Steve Young Act'' to honor an outstanding law enforcement 
officer.
  Another example of our bipartisan cooperation is the resolution the 
Senate passed unanimously last night regarding with the consequences of 
the Supreme Court's decision in the Blakely case and the need to 
clarify Federal criminal sentencing law, S. Con. Res. 130. The Senate 
has now said, consistent with the record we developed at our recent 
Judiciary Committee hearing, that the Supreme Court should 
expeditiously clarify the status of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. 
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals urged expedited consideration. The 
Department of Justice is bringing cases to the Supreme Court and should 
seek expedited consideration to afford the opportunity needed to obtain 
that necessary guidance.
  There are scores of other measures on the Senate Calendar of Business 
on which we should be acting and could have been acting this week. We 
still need to enact the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act, S. 2013; 
the Ag Workers bill, S. 1645; the Dream Act, S. 1545; the judicial pay 
raise, S. 1023, the Anti-Atrocity Act, S. 710; the authorization for 
mental health courts, S. 2107; and other needed legislation on which 
there is so much bipartisan agreement.
  With all this to do, with the 13 appropriations bills as yet 
unfinished, without a budget, without serious oversight of significant 
problems, it is incredible to me that the Republican Senate leadership 
is devoting this week to divisive cloture votes on controversial 
nominations. Why they choose to sow division rather than make progress 
on matters that could improve the lives of so many Americans across the 
country is for others to explain.
  Criticism of this ``do-nothing'' Congress is becoming universal. 
Conservative writers who are more prone to promote the Republican 
agenda than criticize its leadership have even joined in the chorus. 
Maybe that explains this misguided exercise, maybe it is reaction to 
all the criticism and an effort to shore up the extreme right-wing of 
Republican support. I do not know.
  I fear more and more that some want the Senate to become a wholly-
owned subsidiary of this Presidency and the Federal courts to become an 
arm of the Republican Party. That is wrong, that is unwise, that is 
unsound. The American people need to say no and preserve this great 
democracy.
  Rather than doing the people's business, the Senate is being forced 
into contrived stunts for partisan political purposes. I urge the 
Republican leadership to use the upcoming recess to learn about the 
Senate and its role in our Federal Government. Maybe read Master of the 
Senate, the extraordinary and award winning book by Robert Caro, or the 
Constitution of the United States.
  The American people deserve better. The Senate deserves better. 
Senator Byrd has spoken to this situation. Senator Daschle, Senator 
Reid and all

[[Page 17041]]

Democratic Senators have demonstrated over and over again our good 
faith and commitment to moving forward. Let us all, Republicans and 
Democrats, come back from the upcoming hiatus in our Senate proceedings 
with a commitment to find the common ground that Senator Daschle spoke 
about so well last month in the interests of the American people.

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