[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 403]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         BIPARTISAN COOPERATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, Americans believe Congress is broken, and it 
is no mystery why. Political divisions in this Chamber are so great 
they often prevent the Senate from performing even its most fundamental 
difficulties. Divisions are so great they prevented this body from 
confirming Presidential nominees, which is a constitutional obligation 
we have. These days, it is no longer enough to be a qualified nominee. 
It is no longer enough to have bipartisan support. And in the case of 
judicial nominees, it is no longer enough to be reported unanimously 
out of the committee.
  Last year, my Republican colleagues blocked or delayed scores--scores 
of outstanding nominees. Why? Because they want to defeat President 
Obama. They said so. That was their No. 1 goal. And it is he who made 
these nominations. So that is the No. 1 goal, to go after him any way 
they can. At the end of last year, Republicans refused to allow votes 
on 16 judicial nominees who were reported out of the committee 
unanimously--Democrats and Republicans.
  Unfortunately, this year may bring more of the same. Already this 
year--the last few weeks--some Republicans have come to the floor and 
threatened to drag out the confirmation process for every nominee for 
the rest of the year. This Republican obstructionism is supposedly 
retribution for President Obama's recess appointment of Richard 
Cordray. No one questions his qualifications--no one. He was called 
upon by the President to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 
If we have a qualified leader at the helm, this Bureau will be able to 
effectively protest things that are wrong and protect middle-class 
families from the greed and excess of big Wall Street banks. It will 
not impact smaller financial service firms that help Americans who do 
not want to use banks, and it will not impact the banks or nonbanks 
that deal fairly with consumers, but it will deal severely with foreign 
nonbanks that are ripping off customers. This Bureau will serve as a 
watchdog against the kinds of abuses that nearly collapsed our 
financial system in 2008.
  President Obama is right to recess-appoint Mr. Cordray. It is 
protected in the Constitution. That is a constitutional obligation and 
benefit President Obama has--or any President has. It is in the 
Constitution. President Bush had the same right to make recess 
appointments even though Democrats kept the Senate in pro forma 
session. Bush did not exercise that right or challenge the pro forma 
sessions in court because Democrats worked with him to confirm hundreds 
of his nominees. Unfortunately, Republicans have refused to work with 
President Obama as we did with President Bush. Instead, they are 
threatening political payback and more delays.
  This brand of obstructionism is the reason Americans are 
disillusioned with Congress. They believe Congress cannot get anything 
done. It will take cooperation between Democrats and Republicans to 
turn that perception around. So we should show the American people 
that, with cooperation--we know it works, cooperation between the two 
parties--this body can accomplish great things.

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