Nomination of Priscilla Richman Owen to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit--Continued

NOMINATION OF PRISCILLA RICHMAN OWEN TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT--Continued

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Mr. DURBIN. I thank my colleagues.

It is great to have these bipartisan agreements on the floor of the Senate. Maybe a new spirit is dawning. I am going to take a very few moments. As I said at the outset, Winston Churchill said there is nothing more exhilarating than being shot at and missed. Many of us in the Senate feel that this agreement tonight means some of the most cherished traditions of the Senate will be preserved, will not be attacked, and will not be destroyed. I think it is a time for celebration on both sides of the aisle.

I salute one of my colleagues who is on the Senate floor this evening, Senator Warner of Virginia. I was asked by my friends back in Illinois not long ago, Senator Warner, tell us the Republican Senators you really respect, and I said JOHN WARNER is certainly one of those Senators. And I mean it sincerely. He has played a central role with Senator McCain, Senator Byrd, Senator Nelson, Senator Pryor, and so many others to bring us to this point.

What I think is important is this: What we have seen as the emergence of resolving this issue is the emergence of people from the center who are dedicated to this institution and to our role in our government. I hope that continues over to other issues, and I hope the White House, as well as the leaders of both political parties, will try to work in that same spirit, the spirit of moving toward the center in moderation. I might say that the fact that the President has had 95 percent of his nominees to the bench approved by the Senate is an indication that if he will pick men and women more toward the center, even a little right of center, which we expect, that the President is not going to run into the resistance he did with a handful of nominees that we on the Democratic side thought went too far.

I would like to say a word about Senator HARRY REID, who was in the Chamber just a moment ago. He spoke about sleepless nights. He and I talked about that for weeks. No one has spent more time worrying over this situation. He understood, as we all did, that this was not just another political issue, not just another political vote, but had Vice President Cheney come to that chair tomorrow and ruled as we heard he would under the nuclear option, the Senate would have been changed forever. This institution has been preserved. The nuclear option is off the table. We have been admonished, and I think appropriately so, not to misuse the filibuster, certainly when it comes to judicial nominees. That is good advice on both sides of the aisle under Democratic and Republic Presidents. I thank my colleagues, too, for bringing up some of the more contentious judges as part of this debate.

Senator Reid went to Senator Frist weeks ago and said if this is about one or two judges, let us get that resolved. The Senate, its traditions and the constitutional issues at stake, are more important than any single judge in our land. Unfortunately, that negotiation between Senator Reid and Senator Frist did not lead to the culmination that we had hoped it would. But thanks to the leadership of colleagues on both sides of the aisle in good faith and good spirit on a bipartisan basis we have now moved ourselves beyond this crisis. Now the challenge is whether we can continue in this spirit: Will we tomorrow come together and start working on important issues such as retirement security, health care in America, the protection of our Nation, the support of our men and women in uniform, doing something to help with education? It is an important agenda that calls for the best on both sides of the aisle to work together.

Again, let me thank Senator Warner for his leadership. I know he has been patient. A couple weeks ago, the Senator came over to me in the corner of the Chamber and said: We ought to work together to get this resolved.

The Senator never quit. I admire him for that. I admire Senators on both sides of the aisle who brought us to this happy occasion.

And at that point, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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