[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2807-2808]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, under the Republican leader's direction, 
this Senate continues to make history for all the wrong reasons. 
Despite proclaiming that the Senate is back to work, the Republican 
majority is on pace to become one of the least productive Senates ever.
  By now, most Americans are aware of the Republican leader's decision 
to block consideration of the Supreme Court nomination that President 
Obama will soon make. But the historic obstruction of a Supreme Court 
nominee is the most recent and prolific example of the Republican 
leader's abdication of his constitutional duties and that of the whole 
Republican caucus. What is that? To provide advice and consent to 
Presidential nominations.
  Since his party assumed the majority in the Senate last January, the 
Republican leader and his colleagues have ground the nominations to a 
halt. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the 
pace of judicial nominations being confirmed this Congress is the 
worst. To date, this Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed a total 
of 16 judicial nominations. That is about one a month. Since the 
beginning of the year, we have confirmed just five judges.
  We have 11 judges pending on the Senate calendar, and there would be 
a lot more, but the chairman of the committee simply is not holding any 
hearings. He canceled the meeting last week. Maybe they will have one 
the day after tomorrow. They are not even holding hearings for the 
people in the pipeline whom the President has nominated. The 11 judges 
pending on the Senate calendar is not definitive of the real problem we 
have in this country. But even on the 11, the Republicans refuse to 
schedule votes--even on judges such as Waverly Crenshaw from Tennessee, 
who is supported by the two Republican Senators from Tennessee.
  If the Republican leader will not even schedule votes on consensus 
judges recommended by Republican Senators, how can Democrats expect a 
vote on their recommendations?
  While the Republican leader and the chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee seem content not to do their jobs, the American people are 
being robbed of justice. There has been a spike in judicial 
emergencies. If there aren't enough judges to hear the cases that 
arise, it is deemed to be an emergency because the judges there are 
unable to do the work because there are too few judges.

[[Page 2808]]

  When the Republicans assumed control of the Senate last year, there 
were 12 judicial emergencies nationwide. Now there are 31--1 year 
later, 31. They are going up almost by the week. As I have indicated, 
that number will only grow as Republicans continue to refuse to process 
important judicial nominations. But the obstruction isn't limited to 
Supreme Court nominees or judges to fill these judicial emergencies. 
There are other matters that we should be concerned about.
  Take, for example, the Banking Committee. It is setting records for 
doing nothing. The committee has been operating under the leadership of 
the senior Senator from Alabama. In that time, the committee has not 
yet reported a single nomination. This is unprecedented.
  According to the Congressional Research Service, which is a 
nonpartisan group, the Banking Committee has reported out at least one 
nomination every year for the past 50 years--not now. It is the only 
Senate committee not to consider a single nomination last year. When 
asked why, he said he had other things to do.
  What are those nominations that the Senator has put a hold on? What 
positions have gone unfilled as the chairman pursued his political 
career with the primary election just having been completed? The Under 
Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is 
really important and two seats on the Securities and Exchange 
Commission. We know that Wall Street needs to be monitored very 
closely. We have two seats that need to be filled. There are two seats 
on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and we know how important 
that is. There are the Director of the U.S. Mint and the Export-Import 
Bank Board of Directors. They can't do their work now because we need 
to fill those spots. There are the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, 
the inspector general, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 
and others.
  From the Republican leader to his committee chairs and the rank and 
file, we continue to hear that the Senate is working again. This is a 
figment of the Republicans' imagination. It is not working again. It 
appears the Republican Senate isn't interested in doing its job. There 
no longer seems to be a voice of reason coming from the Republican 
side.
  Isn't there a single Republican who will stand against the Republican 
leader's nominations blockade? Isn't there a single Republican willing 
to put an end to this historic obstruction? Providing advice and 
consent on the President's nominees is a constitutional duty. I say: Do 
your job.

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