[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 IN SENATE

  (Ms. MATSUI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, the power grab Senate Republicans are about 
to take is not about seven judges; it is about clearing the way for a 
Supreme Court nominee who only needs 51 votes instead of 60 votes.
  Senate Republicans do not want a David Souter, an Anthony Kennedy, a 
Sandra Day O'Connor, a Ruth Bader Ginsberg or a Steven Breyer, all of 
whom were confirmed with nearly unanimous, bipartisan support.
  If President Bush is successful with this extreme power grab in the 
Senate, he will be able to appoint extreme, right-wing judges to the 
court.
  President Bush wants to turn the Senate into a second House of 
Representatives, rubber-stamping his agenda, and that is simply not 
what our Founding Fathers envisioned when they created two distinctly 
different congressional chambers.
  Mr. Speaker, Democrats will fight to protect our constitutional 
checks and balances and basic fairness for the American people.

                          ____________________