believe congress is broken. the american people believe the senate is broken. and i believe the american people are right. during this congress, the 113th congress, the united states has wasted an unprecedented amount of time on procedural hurdles and partisan obstruction. the work of this country goes undone. congress should be passing legislation that strengthens our economy, protects american families. instead, we are burning wasted hours and wasted days between filibusters. i could say we are burning wasted days and wasted weeks between filibusters. even one of the senate s most basic duties, confirmation of presidential nominees, has become completely unworkable. mr. president, there has been an unbelievable, unprecedented obstruction. for the first time in the history of our republic tomorrow public and s have routinely used the filibuster to prevent president obama from appointing or confirming judges. it is truly a troubling trend that republicans are willing to lock
undone. congress should be passing legislation that strengthens our economy, protects american families. instead, we are burning wasted hours and wasted days between filibusters. i could say we are burning wasted days and wasted weeks between filibusters. even one of the senate s most basic duties, confirmation of presidential nominees, has become completely unworkable. mr. president, there has been an unbelievable, unprecedented obstruction. for the first time in the history of our republic tomorrow public and s have routinely used the filibuster to prevent president obama from appointing or confirming judges. it is truly a troubling trend that republicans are willing to lock executive branch nominations even when they have no objection to the qualifications of the nominee. instead, they block qualified nominees to circumvent the legislative process. they block qualified nominations to force wholesale changes. they block qualified nominees to restructure entire executive bra
hours and wasted days between filibusters. i could say we are burning wasted days and wasted weeks between filibusters. even one of the senate s most basic duties, confirmation of presidential nominees, has become completely unworkable. mr. president, there has been an unbelievable, unprecedented obstruction. for the first time in the history of our republic tomorrow public and s have routinely used the filibuster to prevent president obama from appointing or confirming judges. it is truly a troubling trend that republicans are willing to lock executive branch nominations even when they have no objection to the qualifications of the nominee. instead, they block qualified nominees to circumvent the legislative process. they block qualified nominations to force wholesale changes. they block qualified nominees to restructure entire executive branch departments. they don t president obama they don t want president obama to appoint any judges to certain courts. the need for chan
a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: well, madam president, here we go again. for the third time this year, third time this year, we re debating whether to end a republican filibuster and allow a confirmation vote for a highly qualified woman to the d.c. circuit. in march, it was caitlin halligan. last month it was patricia millett. today it s nina pillard. what a highly qualified nominee. argued nine cases before the supreme court, unanimously rated well qualified, the highest rating the american bar association can give any judicial nominee. supported by a bipartisan group of 40 supreme court practitioners, republicans, democrats, people who have actually argued before the supreme court. and, of course, highly esteemed now, the qualifications of the three who have been filibus
logistics providers and requires suspect and ill legitimate products il legitimate products to be appropriately apy handled. ike like to thank senator harkin and senator alexander for their leadership on this bill. i d especially like to recognize senator bennet who has been a strong partner throughout the crafting of this legislation. for more than a year we ve worked on this bipartisan legislation with our colleagues and have finally achieved an important balance with this bill. and i might adhere, madam president, we were told this couldn t be done. we were told this is too difficult. but for a year and a half, we have tackled this objective. congress has the opportunity today to proactively put in place uniform, workable standards that will allow stakeholders greater regulatory certainty and give patients the confidence they deserve in the safety and security of our nation s pharmaceutical drug supply chain. congress s opportunity today are twofold. this is legislation