March 03, 2016

Udall Joins Senate Democrats, Congressional Black Caucus to Call on Senate Republicans to Do Their Job, Give Supreme Court Nominee Full and Fair Consideration

VIDEO - Udall's remarks begin at 5:24: http://www.c-span.org/video/?405973-1/house-senate-democrats-supreme-court-vacancy

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall joined Senate Democrats and members of the Congressional Black Caucus to urge Senate Republicans to do their job, stop ignoring the Constitution, and commit to meet, hold hearings and vote on the president's U.S. Supreme Court nominee. The Senate Majority Leader has said that the Senate will not consider any nominee by President Obama to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. Udall continues to lead the call to end gridlock in the Senate, and a press conference today, he called Republicans' obstruction of qualified nominees to executive branch positions and judgeships unprecedented and a failure of the Senate to do its job.

"Providing our advice and consent and voting on the president's nominee to the United States Supreme Court is possibly the most important job of the United States Senate," Udall said. "Since I was elected, I have been pushing to fix the broken Senate rules to make the Senate work for the American people again. The situation we have now is unprecedented, but it's not just the Supreme Court. What we are seeing over and over is obstruction across the board - 17 judges and three ambassadors, even the top official at the Treasury Department whose job is to go after the finances of terrorists. We are on track for the lowest number of confirmations in three decades. These are public servants. They serve the people of this country in the executive branch, on our courts. They should be judged on their merits. Instead they are blocked for political points. That's not governing. That's the failure to do one's job."

Other participants in the press conference included Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and U.S. Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.).