Press Releases
Nov 22 2013
Graham Opposes Senate Democrats Rule Change
Kevin Bishop, 864-250-1417
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on Senate Democrats vote to change the rules of the Senate."Let's call it what it was -- a raw power grab by Senate Democrats and President Obama. Previous efforts to resist the temptation of turning the Senate into the House of Representatives were lost today and the ‘advise and consent' clause for executive and judicial branch nominations was washed away.
"But there is much more here than meets the eye.
• After today, I fully expect President Obama to stack the D.C. Circuit Court with liberal, rubber-stamp judges. This court has primary jurisdiction over lawsuits that challenge Obamacare regulations. It is no accident the rules were changed to stack this court.
President Obama is committed to protecting Obamacare, his signature achievement, regardless of the damage done to millions of Americans. He is even willing to throw the judiciary into chaos if necessary. Any American who wants to bring a legal challenge to the thousands of Obamacare rules and regulations lost big today.
• The hold I placed on many Obama nominees until Congress was able to speak with the Benghazi survivors has been greatly eroded.
I was very pleased my hold resulted in the first Senate interview of a State Department Benghazi survivor yesterday, 14 months after the attack. I, along with several Senate colleagues, spoke at length to this individual who provided new and compelling information about the attacks on our compounds in Benghazi.
Unfortunately, Americans who want to get to the truth about what happened in Benghazi were hurt by today's vote. Without the ability to delay nominations, presidential administrations are likely to be even more successful in their stonewalling efforts.
• Finally, one of the great concerns about this rule change is without the requirement to work with the minority party to select judges, the judiciary will become dominated by ideologues. One of the biggest winners of this move is liberal groups who will be pushing radical, liberal judges to serve on the federal bench."
#####