[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3455]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           JUDICIAL NOMINEES

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I am pleased that my friend Senator 
McConnell and I have been able to reach an agreement to approve a 
number of judicial nominations in the coming weeks. The senior Senator 
from Vermont, Chairman Leahy, has kindly added his wisdom to make this 
a better agreement, and for that I am very grateful. This is a victory 
for our Nation's justice system.
  While I still believe the Senate should confirm all these nominations 
this afternoon to address the judicial vacancy crisis we face in this 
country, the step forward is one we should all feel good about. The 
Senate will hold up-or-down votes on seven district court judges before 
the end of this work period. We will vote on another five district 
court and two circuit court nominations by Monday, May 7.
  Among the 14 judges, the Senate will consider Miranda Du. Miranda Du 
is a very well known lawyer in Nevada, but the interesting thing about 
this good woman is that she is representative of the true American 
success story.
  She was born in Vietnam. At the end of the war in Vietnam, people who 
were of Vietnamese ancestry could not leave if they were fullblooded 
Vietnamese. If they weren't, as Miranda was, they let them go, and she 
left Vietnam with her family in a boat when she was just 8 years old. 
She was in refugee camps and finally, when she was 9 years old, wound 
up in Alabama--not, of course, speaking any English--with her family. 
She speaks--not that it matters--without a single trace of any accent.
  She is such a good lawyer, and I was so happy when I introduced her 
before the Judiciary Committee at a hearing. Her parents were there, 
her family was there. It was a wonderful opportunity to see what 
America is all about.
  As I have indicated, she has extensive litigation experience and an 
enormous love and appreciation for Nevada. I look forward to confirming 
this woman who has such a tremendous dedication to public service.
  Approving 14 new judges speaks to the progress we can make when we 
here in the Senate work together. More work remains to fill all the 
Nation's vacant judicial seats and ease the backlog of cases in our 
courts. We can't jeopardize the right to a fair and speedy trial for 
160 million Americans who now live in districts with judicial 
vacancies. Some of them even have judicial vacancies that are 
emergencies. It is crucial that bipartisan cooperation continue and the 
pace of confirmations move forward. With 1 in 10 Federal judgeships 
vacant in our country, more delays would circumvent the will of the 
people.
  The American Bar Association says that shortage of judges and the 
backup in our courts is ``bad for business, it's unfair to individuals, 
and it . . . ultimately costs taxpayers money.''
  This shortage of judges is also unnecessary.
  Again, I am pleased there has been agreement to confirm these 14 
judges without wasting any more of the Senate's time.
  I think we can all agree, regardless of political party, that we must 
act quickly on the small business jobs bill that was passed 
overwhelmingly by the House. Democrats are eager to move this bill 
forward, which will improve innovators' access to capital and 
streamline how companies sell stock.
  Democrats will also introduce bipartisan legislation to reauthorize 
the Export-Import Bank--referred to as the Ex-Im Bank--which will 
create 300,000 jobs and generate more than $1 billion of new revenue 
for our country. The minority leader has supported the Export-Import 
Bank in the past. This legislation also has the total support of the 
national chamber of commerce. So it will build on the important work we 
have done this week to help create jobs. It isn't a 2.8 million job 
creator as is our highway bill, but it is an important piece of 
legislation to allow capital formation to be made much more rapidly.
  Today the Senate passed this Transportation jobs bill which is such a 
job creator that it is one of the rare occasions we have here in Senate 
where we can really look to creating, with one vote, millions of jobs. 
Today we also, of course, as I have just indicated, reached a 
bipartisan agreement to ease the delays in our Nation's courts. Passing 
a small business jobs bill that helps companies expand and export their 
products would be yet another bipartisan accomplishment of which the 
Senate can be proud. To that, I refer the Ex-Im Bank.
  I appreciate my friend from Iowa being patient. It seems that there 
are times when he wants to really speak, and sometimes I don't know he 
is coming, but it seems I show up at about the same time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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