[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8558]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           SENATE FILIBUSTER

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I rise to denounce the grave injustice 
occurring a few hundred yards from here in the United States Senate. As 
any student of American Government knows, it is the job of the 
President to nominate fellow Americans to serve as Federal judges, and 
it is the job of the Senate to either approve or reject those 
nominations. It is a simple system that guarantees proper checks and 
balances in the manner our forefathers envisioned.
  Over the past 2 years, though, Senate Democrats have exploited 
parliamentary loopholes to prevent the Senate from voting up or down on 
many of President Bush's highly qualified nominees. They are hiding 
behind the Senate filibuster to block judicial nominees who have the 
support of the majority of the Senate, something that has never been 
done in American history.
  Democrats in the Senate are not asking for time to debate these 
nominees. They are not going to the American people and explaining why 
they oppose them. They are not even using their talents of persuasion 
to urge their Republican colleagues to vote ``no.'' No, they are just 
refusing to vote. And that is just wrong.
  I stand for this simple proposition, that every judicial nominee of 
the President deserves a fair yes-or-no vote. If Democrats do not like 
the President's nominees, they can vote ``no,'' but to avoid voting 
altogether is a dangerous disservice.

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