Nomination of Michelle T. Friendland to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit -- Resumed

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. I think it is important to put all of this in context. My good friend, the majority leader, broke his word last year when he said we had settled the issue of what the rules were going to be for the Senate for this Congress. He then broke the Senate rules in order to change the Senate rules, setting a very unfortunate precedent, and continues to abuse the Senate rules by using the device called filling the tree to prevent Members of the Senate, from his party and from our party, from even offering alternatives.

Despite this heavyhanded behavior, he expects the minority to simply expedite consideration of, in the case of the matter we are discussing, a lifetime appointment. As Senator Grassley has pointed out, we are simply exercising our rights under the rules of the Senate. I might say many of these nominees would have been confirmed last December had we not experienced this event perpetrated by the majority in a heavyhanded attempt to alter the balance, to change the nature of the Senate with a simple majority. It was an unfortunate decision, but those kinds of decisions have consequences. And all we have done here is exercise, as Senator Grassley pointed out, the rights that Senators have under the rules of the Senate. If the majority leader doesn't like the way the Senate is working, I would recommend that he change his behavior.

You know, we don't have a rules problem. We have a behavior problem.

We have had a couple of examples of trying to edge back to normal here, where we brought up a bill that was actually open for amendments, and amendments were processed from Members on both sides. But it seems of late we are back to the old Senate. All we are about is scoring partisan points and denying Members the opportunity to offer amendments.

I think most Members on both sides of the aisle came here to be Senators, which involves having your committee work taken seriously and having the opportunity to offer amendments taken seriously. This body--when it was at its peak and operating the way it should under Members of majorities of both parties--has been a more civil place in which rights were respected.

The Senator from Iowa--the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee--is pointing out that we are simply exercising our rights under the rules of the Senate.

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I have just a couple of brief observations that are relevant to the point. No. 1, we have approved more judges at this point for President Obama than President Bush had approved at the same time in his Presidency.

No. 2, the majority leader has a curious definition of filibuster. The reason the majority leader has had difficulty getting onto bills is because as soon as we get on bills, there are no amendments allowed. Once you get past the motion to proceed--I would say to the people who may be listening and are not as deeply steeped in Senate rules--there is a 2-step process. You vote to get on a bill, and then you are on the bill.

What happens is that once we get on the bill, the majority leader has made it impossible for Members of his party or ours to offer amendments more often than the last six leaders combined. In other words, he gets to decide whether anybody's amendments are considered--either on his side or our side. That is what has degraded the Senate. That is what has turned the Senate into looking more like the House. In fact, I am told of late that the House has voted on more amendments than the Senate. The assistant majority leader used to say--and he was quite right at the time--if you want to have a chance to vote, come to the Senate; that is what the Senate is about. That is not what it has been about in recent times.

All that is really required to get the Senate back to normal is for the one Member of the Senate who has the right of prior recognition and the right to set the agenda to open the Senate and let Members of both parties offer amendments.

When we used to be in the majority, I would tell our Members that the price of being in the majority is you have to give the minority their votes. It is an unpleasant experience for us, but that is the way the Senate operates, and that is the way you move a bill to completion.

There were a couple of times this year when it looked like we were going to get back to normal. I still hope it is not too late for that. It would be in the best interests of the institution and the best interest of both the majority and minority to begin to restore the institution to the way it used to operate.

Mr. REID addressed the Chair.

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I believe I have the floor.

Do I have the floor?

Mr. REID. I have the floor. The Senator yielded the floor.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader had not yet yielded the floor.

Mr. REID. I apologize.

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, if the Senator would yield for a question.

Mr. McCONNELL. I am happy to yield for a question.

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, the majority leader said that there is urgent work the Senate needs to turn to, which is why we ought to amend the ordinary rules of the Senate which call for a 30-hour postcloture period.

I ask the distinguished Republican leader if he is aware of any urgent work that the majority leader has planned for us to turn to that would be a reason to expedite this particular nomination?

Mr. McCONNELL. I am sure the majority leader will announce at some point what we are going to do next, but I am not quite sure what that is at this particular point.

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, if the Senator will yield for another question, I ask the distinguished Republican leader if he is aware--and I am confident he is--that the majority leader and other leaders of his party had a press conference last week, I believe it was, announcing their agenda from this point through the election in November, which involved issues such as the vote we had yesterday, the vote on the increase in the minimum wage, the vote on extending long-term unemployment, and the like. I believe there was a quote in the article--if the Senator will remember like I do--that basically said: We are not interested in legislating. We are just basically interested in posturing and politics to help distract the American people from the unpopularity of this President's policies and this party's policies.

Does the Senator remember something to that effect?

Mr. McCONNELL. I do. The Senator from Texas is entirely correct. There was a rather candid admission at a press conference that the whole agenda was basically crafted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and that getting an outcome was sort of irrelevant. It was mainly about scoring political points for the fall election here on the floor of the Senate.

If that is one of the urgent items the majority leader has in mind that would somehow be prevented if we had a vote on this judge on the Monday after the recess, it is perplexing to reach the conclusion that this is a matter of great urgency for the American people if there is no interest whatsoever in getting an outcome.

Mr. McCONNELL. I yield the floor.

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