[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9380]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       REPUBLICAN ABUSE OF POWER

  (Mr. CLEAVER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, we should always be cautious in this quest 
for absolute power here in Washington. This was not the vision of our 
Founding Fathers.
  Today, we are dealing with a manufactured judicial crisis. Since 
President George Bush took office, the Senate has confirmed a whopping 
208 of his judicial nominations and turned back only 10. That, my 
friends, is a 95 percent confirmation rate. That rating is the highest 
approval rating of any President in modern times, including Ronald 
Reagan and Bill Clinton. Thanks to these confirmations, the President 
presides over the lowest court vacancy rate since Ronald Reagan was 
President.
  Congratulations, Mr. President.
  Instead of accepting that success and avoiding further divisiveness 
and partisanship here in Washington, my hope is that our President will 
not add to the current bitterness here and around the Nation by 
resubmitting the names of rejected nominees again this year.

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