The important work of this Committee justifies an increase in our budget rather than just the maintenance budget being approved by the Committee for submission to the Rules Committee today. I look forward to working with the Chairman on a supplemental request to meet our needs.

This week is marked by the things that the Senate has not done: The Senate is in the process of rejecting a strong and effective Patients’ Bill of Rights; the Senate did not take up and vote on the nomination of Marsha Berzon to the Ninth Circuit; the Senate missed reauthorizing the important Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs by the 25th anniversary of the original enactment by continuing its unexplained refusal to consider S.249, the Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children Protection Act; and the Senate has not moved to conference with the House on S.254, the Hatch-Leahy juvenile crime bill that the Senate passed with a strong bipartisan majority in May.

I hope that this Committee will continue to make progress on our backlog of nominations. The Chairman held a hearing for five judicial nominees earlier this week, who I expect to be reported at our next meeting but, as I noted at that hearing, our backlog remains and we have much work yet to do to fulfill our responsibilities in that regard. This week’s hearing was only our second confirmation hearing all year. We have yet to take up three nominations that the Committee approved last year: Judge Richard Paez, Justice Ronnie White and Timothy Dyk. We should report those to the Senate, again, without additional delay. We remain well behind our pace of last year and are not meeting the needs of the federal judiciary and the American people.

In addition, the Committee has yet to report the nomination of Bill Lann Lee to the Senate so that the Senate can vote on confirming him as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In June, six former Assistant Attorneys General for Civil Rights from the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Bush Administrations wrote to us urging support for the nomination of Bill Lann Lee. I attach for the record a copy of their letter. Harold Tyler, Burke Marshall, Stephen J. Pollak, J. Stanley Pottinger, Drew Days and John R. Dunne note:

“Over the past eighteen months, Mr. Lee has shown that he honors the Civil Rights Division’s mission to safeguard equal justice for all. He has enforced the nation’s civil rights laws fairly and effectively. He has demonstrated that he can and will meet the demands of the position with distinction and thus merits the Senate’s confidence.”

Civil Rights is about human dignity and opportunity. Bill Lann Lee ought to have an up or down confirmation vote on the Senate floor. Mr. Lee was renominated, again, in 1999, but has yet to have the Senate vote on his nomination. It is past time to do the right thing, the honorable thing, and report this qualified nominee to the Senate so that the Senate may fulfill its constitutional duty under the advice and consent clause and vote on this nomination. I believe that in a fair and open vote on the merits of this nomination on the Senate floor, the Senate will confirm this fine person and dedicated public servant. We also we have several other Assistant Attorney General nominees pending before the Committee, two of whom need to have confirmations hearings without further delay, and a number of other, important Executive Branch nominations that need action.

I look forward to working with the Chairman and all members of the Committee to fulfill our responsibilities to the Senate and to the nation.