WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the Senate Democrats’ efforts to manufacture a crisis over consideration of judicial nominees as part of an unprecedented power grab:

“Senate Democrats are not content with the additional powers they have—powers greater than those enjoyed by any previous Majority—so they intend to manufacture a crisis over nominations as pretext for a power grab. Yet, the Senate is treating President Obama’s nominees fairly. For example, let’s just look at how the Senate has treated his judicial nominees.

“Overall, the Senate has confirmed 193 lower court judges and defeated only 2—a .990 batting average.

“After this week, the Senate will have approved 24 of President Obama’s lifetime appointments compared to just 9 for President Bush at a comparable point in his second term.

“And last Congress, President Obama had more district court confirmations than in any of the previous eight Congresses. He also had almost 50 percent more confirmations (171) than President Bush (119) under similar circumstances.

“To support an unprecedented power grab, the Administration and its allies in the Senate have resorted to outlandish claims about how the President’s judicial nominees are being treated.

“The Washington Post Fact-Checker gave President Obama two Pinocchios for extreme claims about Republican delays of his judicial nominees, noting that in some ways President Obama’s nominees are actually being moved along ‘better’ than President Bush’s.

“The Washington Post cited a Congressional Research Service conclusion that from nomination to confirmation—one of the most relevant indicators, according to a Brookings scholar—President Obama’s circuit court nominations are being processed about 100 days quicker than President Bush’s: 350.6 days for President Bush to 256.9 for President Obama.

“Factcheck.org said ‘…during Obama’s first term, his nominees to federal appeals courts actually were confirmed more quickly on average than Bush’s first-term nominees, measured from the day of nomination to the day of the confirmation vote.’

“Politifact said ‘…the average wait for George W. Bush’s circuit court nominees was actually longer from nomination to confirmation.’

“As you can see, this is a manufactured crisis, one that does not in fact exist, in order to justify a power grab to fundamentally change the Senate.”