If they go easy on Trump’s executive branch appointments, it would give Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) more floor time to confirm judges. Any one senator can do it, and there’s enormous political pressure from the opposition party to resist nominees of a sitting president - especially a controversial figure like Trump.ĭemocrats say Trump’s nominees are different: Partisan, unqualified and worth fighting. With Senate leaders gutting the chamber’s supermajority requirement for nominees, delaying an eventual confirmation is now the only tool the Senate minority has to fight nominees they oppose. If you do it to one side, it tends to happen to the other side.” Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who faced little opposition when confirmed to be Bush’s budget director and top trade diplomat. “It’s a major concern, having gone through a couple confirmations myself,” said Sen. And it’s hard to imagine that Republicans will go easy on Biden if he wins, even as both parties decry the trend. It’s the latest glaring sign of Senate dysfunction, showing just how difficult it has become to staff up an administration. Then Trump came along and became the record holder in just part of a term, according to a POLITICO analysis of Senate votes. Bush faced the most procedural hurdles and filibusters to his nominees until Barack Obama was elected and faced historic blockades. The Senate’s confirmation process is nearly broken, and the numbers show it’s a race to the bottom.
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