Executive Calendar

EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we have been working this afternoon trying to clear the Executive Calendar, regrettably with little or no success. I had a conversation with the Democratic leader about this just a few moments ago. He can represent his own position. But let me say, from my point of view, what is customarily done at the end of the session is we work out understandings under which we are able to, for the most part, except for extremely controversial nominees, clear the calendar. But alas, that will not be the case today. It is a result of another round of obstructionism. As we adjourn today, a grand total of 95 nominees will be languishing here on the Executive Calendar awaiting approval. I hoped that entering the holiday season, we would be able to put aside our differences and work together. Instead, the politics seems to have overtaken reason once again.

This level of obstructionism on the other side has reached a really stunning new low. An example of the positions that will be left languishing here, dealing with the national security of this country, is the Deputy Attorney General, the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a very important country in the war on terrorism, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and the International Trade Commission-all obstructed as we bring this session to an end. From those positions all the way down to such things as members of the African Development Foundation, the U.S. Postal Service, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, even the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science-all obstructed.

On a day when the Senate delivered on a 38-year-old promise to 40 million seniors to provide a prescription drug benefit, we end the day woefully short of our obligations. It is somewhat ironic that two of the victims of obstructionist are nominees to the U.S. Institute of Peace.

I hope we can get serious about doing our work around here. Our work includes, at the very least, confirming nominations that are not controversial. This is disturbing. We have an Executive Calendar full of innocent people who are not caught up in any of the games around here who are being held up at the very least until we come back on December 9. And who knows, maybe until next year and maybe forever, positions from extremely important positions such as the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia all the way down to boards that are arguably not of any great consequence. It is a sad conclusion to the session.

Hopefully, sometime over the next few weeks we can figure out a way to clear these nominations, these people who deserve better treatment by the Senate. We abuse people and abuse people and abuse people. It is a wonder that anyone is willing to enter into public service anymore if they have to go through the confirmation process.