[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3702]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF MERRICK GARLAND

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday the assistant Republican leader 
made an interesting statement as he spoke to reporters just off the 
Senate floor. This is what he said and I quote: ``Even though this is 
an election year, it is no excuse for not getting the people's work 
done.'' We all agree. On this side of the aisle, we all agree.
  Even though this is an election year, it is no excuse for not getting 
the people's work done. I didn't write that for the Republican whip, 
but I couldn't have done any better had I tried to write it. That is 
why Senate Republicans should put aside election year politics and do 
their job regarding President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, 
Judge Garland, hopefully to be Justice Garland soon. And what is that 
job? As the Republican leader said a decade ago, and I quote:

       Our job is to react to the nomination in a respectful and 
     dignified way, and at the end of the process to give that 
     person an up-or-down vote as all nominees who have majority 
     support have gotten through the history of the country. It's 
     not our job to determine who ought to be picked.

  So says the senior Senator from Kentucky. By the Republican leader's 
own admission, our job is to carry out a respectful nomination process. 
That means hearings, and at the end of the process we must give the 
nominee an up-or-down vote. That is our job, and we should do it.
  Will the Chair announce what the Senate is going to be doing for the 
remainder of the day.

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