Grassley Statement at an Executive Business Meeting

 

Good morning. Last night, Senator Feinstein told me that her Members had a meeting that would last until 10:30, so I moved today’s markup half an hour back. Because of the accommodation, I’d ask that after opening statements by the Ranking Member and me, and after we have the necessary number of Members here to vote, we do so. Then, we’ll continue with any other Member statements.

 

Today, we have a number of nominees on today’s agenda for the first time and the Minority has requested that they be held over. They are:

 

 

Mr. Grasz’s nomination to the 8th Circuit is on today’s agenda. The Minority requested that he be held over last week. Typically, Members are allowed to hold over a nominee for one week and then the Committee will vote on the nominee the following week.

 

But Senator Feinstein has requested that he be held over again this week because she indicated she wants to consider some information she received about Mr. Grasz’s ABA rating on Tuesday. I believe she’ll be writing a follow-up letter to get this situation fully resolved.

 

I’m willing to accommodate Senator Feinstein’s request this week and will hold Mr. Grasz’s nomination for one more week.

 

The follow-up materials we received from Mr. Grasz this week appear to indicate that the ABA relied on faulty information in their evaluation of him. I believe the Committee should be able to resolve this issue in the next week.

 

This is a special accommodation that I’ll make. But this is a rare exception to our standard practice.

 

And, I’ll just say to you, Senator Feinstein, the letter you sent to me asking that Mr. Grasz be held another week indicates to me that you’re looking into his record and that you haven’t yet decided how you’re going to vote. Of course, if you already knew how you were going to vote, this seems to be a meaningless endeavor. But I’m glad for the nominee to be able to have an opportunity to clarify the record and to clear up his reputation on the issue.

 

I’ll now turn to Senator Feinstein for her remarks.

 

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