00:03Madam Chairman, I want to talk for a few minutes about process.
00:07I have found it stunning that my Democratic colleagues have had such objections to process.
00:21So I thought I might revisit a little bit of this committee's history over the last few weeks.
00:29I think it would be instructive for the nominee and those that support him to be aware of this.
00:36Now, let's just go back to the Biden administration and point out a few things that happened not only to me, but to some of our Republican colleagues.
00:50Over the objections of Senator Hagerty and me, the Biden administration nominated not one, not two, but three nominees that we opposed.
01:11Now, some may like to say, well, you could have worked with White House on this, and we tried to, or you could have presented Democrat nominees, and indeed we did, repeatedly.
01:27But in the case of one of those nominees, Mathis, Chairman Durbin scheduled a hearing without even sending Senator Hagerty and I a blue slip.
01:44Now, what happened?
01:46The Democrats voted in lockstep to move him out of the committee.
01:51Another nominee, Carla Campbell, misled the committee during her confirmation hearing about her involvement with a radical far-left group that she worked with, and again, the Democrats were united in their support of that nominee.
02:11And then with Kevin Ritz, there were serious accusations of prosecutorial misconduct.
02:19And what did my colleagues on the other side of the dais do?
02:24They voted in lockstep.
02:28Now, they want to complain today, and some have spent their time complaining and griping about the way the committee has been handled, but they're forgetting about these.
02:44They forget about Senator Rick Scott and Senator Rubio, who opposed the nomination of Embry Kidd.
02:53But the Democrats moved forward with that.
02:56They were pleased to move forward with it.
03:00Senator Tillis and Senator Budd opposed the nomination of Ryan Park.
03:07But the Democrats chose to keep moving forward.
03:11And again, I would remind everyone, the senators were bringing forward Democrats that could have been the nominee.
03:22But instead, my friends across the dais decided they wanted those that were farther to the left, those that were activists, those that did not have judicial experience.
03:37They were looking for activists to put on the court.
03:40I'm going to read Senator Tillis's quote as we were approaching the markup of Mr. Park.
03:49He said, and I quote,
03:52I'm going to tell you the same thing that when the rules are reversed, and they're going to be reversed,
04:01you're either going to make my job harder by doing the right thing and respecting your colleague today,
04:08or you're going to make my job easier, or you're going to make my job easier because I'm going to go right down the line with the administration.
04:17Now, this is important to remember as we talk about process and as we discuss these nominees that are coming before us.
04:33There was very little respect that was shown the members on this side of the dais and very little respect that was shown the nominees and basically no consideration for the ability of a home state senator to weigh in on those that were being brought forward.
05:02So, Mr. Bovee, I look forward to supporting you.
05:06I look forward to your confirmation, and my hope is that my colleagues across the dais will begin to think that it would be a good thing for them to reconsider,
05:23rewind the video, and play it so that you are refreshed on how you conducted yourselves during the Biden administration.
