Senate Republicans are warning that Democrats risk blowing up decades of precedent if they do not undo their unprecedented roadblocks stalling the confirmation process for more than 140 of President Donald Trump’s appointees.
Senate Majority John Thune is continuing to plow through confirmations at a rapid pace, but Democrats’ sweeping blockade has forced the majority leader to burn through hours of floor time to process nominations, leading to considerable delays for those awaiting floor consideration. Senate Republicans have argued that Democrats’ demands to hold a series of roll call votes to confirm the president’s picks is a sharp break with precedent — and have foreshadowed “ugly” consequences if their hardball approach continues.
“There’s a lot of noms on the list that are bipartisan,” Thune told reporters Tuesday, regarding the president’s picks that have passed out of committee, but are waiting for consideration on the Senate floor. “In the past, at least, as you all know, the precedent has been to allow some of those to move without having to go through the lengthy process that we’re having to go through.”
“We’ll see at some point if the Democrats want to play ball or not, but they are playing a dangerous game and risking, I think, in the future, a precedent that could come back to haunt them,” Thune continued. “We have a job to do here and it’s an important job to fill important positions in our government.”
Democrats’ delay tactics slowing the confirmation process of the president’s nominees are the most widespread they’ve ever been, according to several GOP senators who voiced frustration to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Senate Democrats have demanded a procedural vote to invoke cloture on all of the president’s picks thus far except Secretary of State Marco Rubio who was confirmed shortly after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Senate Democrats have rejected Republicans’ arguments that their caucus is engaging in obstruction by subjecting nearly every Trump nominee to multiple roll call votes.
“We’re having votes. There is no obstruction here,” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the DCNF. “They [Republicans] have to follow the rules.”
However, Democrats’ decision to drag their feet on virtually every nominee has been a sharp departure from how Republicans approached many appointees under former President Joe Biden.
Roughly 60% of Biden nominees were approved by unanimous consent during his four year term, according to the Hill. Trump is the first president on record to not have a single nominee confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent at this point in a term.
Senate Democrats’ unrelenting opposition to the president’s lower-level nominees has become a source of frustration for some GOP senators who voted for some relatively noncontroversial nominees under Biden only for Senate Democrats to refuse to show the same treatment toward Trump’s picks.
“We’ve also proved that we worked with them [Democrats],” Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin told reporters Monday. “We allowed 44 [nominees] to go through voice vote or unanimous consent with Biden.”
“They’ve allowed zero [for Trump’s nominees],” Mullin continued.
Democrats’ stalling tactics has left many lower-level executive branch appointees who would have been viewed as noncontroversial — and granted expedited confirmations — in prior Congresses struggling to secure floor time to be approved by the Senate.
The president nominated former Republican Nevada Senate candidate and Army veteran Sam Brown to serve as the under secretary of memorial affairs in the Veterans Affairs department in January. The role overseeing the National Cemetery Administration is not viewed as partisan and is responsible for maintaining veterans’ cemeteries across the United States and providing burial ceremonies for roughly 100,000 veterans per year.
Yet more than six months later, Brown is still waiting to be confirmed due to Senate Democrats’ sweeping holds on all Department of Veterans Affairs nominees. Thune filed cloture on Brown’s nomination Thursday, starting the process to approve the combat-wounded veteran’s appointment on the floor. Democrats are still expected to force the Senate to hold a procedural vote and a separate final confirmation vote to approve Brown’s Senate-confirmed executive branch role.
His predecessor, Matthew Quinn, a Biden appointee, was confirmed by the Senate via unanimous consent in June 2021.
Republican Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, went to the Senate floor in June to ask for unanimous consent to approve Brown’s nomination. Blumenthal objected, citing his opposition to potential staffing cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Laying our veterans to rest with honor, serving their families with dignity is not a Republican or Democrat issue,” Moran said on the Senate floor. “I am discouraged that we cannot work in a bipartisan manner to confirm this qualified and capable leader for the National Cemetery Administration.”
Senate Republicans are warning of retribution if Democrats do not relent in doing everything in their power to prevent Trump from getting his team in place quickly.
“What goes around, comes around,” Thune told reporters Monday, referring to Democrats’ slow-walking of the president’s nominees. “This is a game they’re playing right now. And I get it. I mean, there’s just a lot of Trump derangement syndrome.”
“But if they keep this up, this is not going to end well,” Thune continued.
Trump has repeatedly called for the Senate to cancel the planned August recess to clear the backlog and Senate GOP leadership has said that all options are on the table.
“Senate Democrats must stop obstructing the will of the American people, and the Senate must confirm President Trump’s nominees as quickly as possible,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Caden Olson contributed to this report.
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