Grassley: Judiciary Committee Progress Report

This is the text from Sen. Chuck Grassley's weekly video address, delivered on May 11.

When I became the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee I wanted to restore the committee's role as a true check on the massive and powerful federal bureaucracy. Since then, the committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion to meet these goals.

Today, the committee released a progress report on its activities for this Congress.

It's on pace to exceed its legislative productivity in the last Congress. The committee has reported to the Senate 23 bills, all with bipartisan support, and authored by members of both parties. By contrast, in the entire previous Congress, the committee reported 26 bills, all of which were authored by the majority party.

The committee is also on track to match nominations benchmarks set in similar scenarios in the past. For example, the Judiciary Committee has already held hearings for 38 of President Obama's nominees to the federal bench. Nomination hearings slated for later this month will bring that number to 43. That's equal to the number of nominees who received hearings from a Democrat-led Judiciary Committee at the same point in President George W. Bush's presidency.

I've also placed additional focus on oversight to ensure accountability and transparency in government as mandated by the Constitution. I started the Whistleblower Protection Caucus to help educate my colleagues about the positive impact these patriotic citizens have on uncovering waste, fraud and abuse. The committee has sent more than 450 letters to more than 55 federal agencies, 20 organizations and 15 individuals in this effort.

The numbers speak for the bipartisan productivity of the Judiciary Committee that's occurred over the last 18 months - and what will continue to happen in this Congress under my leadership.

' Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, is chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Comments: (202) 224-3744