[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9426-9427]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         REPUBLICAN FILIBUSTERS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I also want to say that this has been a 
week when we have achieved a few things in the Senate but not nearly 
enough. We started off the Senate with a historic occasion, one which 
is not likely to be remembered by great historians but should be 
remembered by all who follow the business of the Senate. As of this 
week, the Republicans, the minority in the Senate, have now engaged in 
71 Republican filibusters. A filibuster is an effort to stop the 
business on the floor of the Senate or at least to slow it down. It is 
a time-honored tradition in the Senate, but it is a tradition which has 
not been overused until this session of Congress.
  In the entire history of the Senate, the total number of filibusters 
in any 2-year period, the maximum, was 57. So far in this 2-year 
period, the Republicans have engaged in 71 filibusters, and, of course, 
we have another 6 or 7 months to go in this session of Congress. It is 
clear that their ambition is to stop the Senate from addressing the 
major issues facing our Nation, or at least to slow us down to a crawl.
  We have what we believe are good ideas and good proposals to deal 
with the high gasoline prices facing America's families and businesses, 
farmers and truckers. We have good proposals to deal with tax breaks 
for working families so they can meet the needs of their families with 
escalating prices for food and health care and daycare and the cost of 
daily living. Again, the Republicans have done their best to slow us 
down, if not stop us.
  It reached a point several weeks ago that was nothing short of 
ridiculous. The Republicans initiated a filibuster to slow down the 
consideration of a bill known as a technical corrections bill. That is 
a bill that takes care of spelling and grammar errors. They engaged in 
a filibuster to slow down the Senate so it would take us a whole week 
to finish a technical corrections bill. When we finally reached the 
point and asked them for amendments, they had three or four that could 
have been dispensed with quickly.
  They are dragging their feet and slowing us down with this record 
number of filibusters. But that isn't it alone. There is also a device 
in the Senate known as a hold. Most every Senator has used a hold, 
either on a bill or a nomination. Some of the holds that have been 
applied recently are so-called secret holds. Senators don't step 
forward to identify why they have held up a nomination or bill.
  I have used holds. I am currently using those. But I have been very 
public about it. I have said exactly why I am doing it and the 
conditions for my releasing the hold. For example, when the Department 
of Justice wanted the approval of the Deputy Attorney General Mark 
Filip, a good man from Chicago, I said I would hold his nomination 
until I had received responses to questions I had submitted to the 
Department months before. Well, to his credit, Attorney General Mukasey 
moved on it extremely quickly. Within 48 hours, I had the answers and 
withdrew the hold immediately as promised. I am sorry it reached that 
point, but after waiting months, I didn't know another way to turn to 
get answers to important questions. So holds can be used effectively 
and honestly and openly.
  Then again, there are holds that have been applied that I think are 
almost impossible to explain or justify. For example, one of the 
Senators on the Republican side has put a hold on a bill which was not 
controversial and very bipartisan, which would establish in the United 
States a national registry of those who are suffering from a disease 
known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. It is a terrible, debilitating 
disease. It was the hope of the sponsor, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, 
that we could establish this registry and move even closer to finding 
the cause of this disease and perhaps lead to a cure. It was certainly 
a high-minded and sensible approach to a very serious medical condition 
affecting thousands of families across America.

[[Page 9427]]

  One of the Senators from Oklahoma on the Republican side put a hold 
on this bill--in other words, stopped us from calling this bill for a 
vote. That is extremely unfortunate. There is nothing controversial 
about this bill. He should reconsider that hold. But it is not the only 
one.

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