Concerned About Qualifications, Senate Democrats to Delay, Stall Confirmation of Trump Cabinet Picks

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Top Senate Democrats concerned about the qualifications of Donald Trump’s picks for his cabinet and other administration jobs that require Senate confirmation are preparing to stall and delay hearings and votes as long as they can. Politico reports the upcoming roadblocks are also in part, payback for the Republicans’ refusal to even hold a single hearing on Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama March 16, 2016, 265 days ago.

“Democrats to give Trump Cabinet picks the Garland treatment,” Politico reports. “Delay tactics could sap momentum from the president’s first 100 days.”

“Democrats could conceivably force up to 30 hours of debate for each Cabinet nominee, which would be highly disruptive for a GOP Senate that usually works limited hours but has big ambitions for next year,” Politico adds. “The minority could also stymie lower-level nominees and potentially keep the Senate focused on executive confirmations for weeks as Trump assumes the presidency and congressional Republicans try to capitalize on their political momentum.”

While the Senate could usher through soon-to-be President Donald Trump’s picks on just a voice vote, Senate Democrats are promising to require lengthy hearings and what are called recorded votes, where a record of how each Senator votes is kept.

“There should be recorded votes, in my view, on every one of the president’s Cabinet nominees,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told Politico. “Having all of these hearings before the inaugural in a thorough and fair fashion seems very difficult to do.”

“I’ve heard no conversations about the kind of obstruction that Mitch McConnell specialized in,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, who Politico calls “endangered.” “But there may be some where there are real questions about their qualifications and some of the things in their backgrounds,” she noted.

“They’ve been rewarded for stealing a Supreme Court justice. We’re going to help them confirm their nominees, many of whom are disqualified?” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) asked rhetorically. “It’s not obstruction, it’s not partisan, it’s just a duty to find out what they’d do in these jobs.”

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“I don’t want to needlessly prevent President Trump from being successful,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said. “But accelerating the confirmation of unacceptable candidates who have views that are outside the mainstream is not constructive.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who will be the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee in the new Congress, as Talking Points Memo notes, told Politico that “past is present, and what goes around comes around.”

 

Images: Official Senate portraits, via Wikimedia