Senator Chuck Schumer, the new Senate minority leader, indicated that Democrats are going to have a “showdown” over President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations. Schumer also said that the Senate majority caucus “needs to meet several demands” or the confirmation process will slow down.
Who does this guy think he is? He’s the guy who will get away with it unless the Senate GOP tells the Democrats and their “demands” to pound sand. I just answered my own question. We’ll see if the Senate GOP stands up to the minority.
The incoming minority leader raised the issue in a private letter to McConnell this month. Neither leader’s office would comment directly on the letter given the sensitivity of the new relationship between the two party honchos.
But people familiar with the communications between the two leaders said Schumer is calling for McConnell to not schedule simultaneous confirmation hearings for Cabinet nominees, so that members on multiple committees can attend each confirmation hearing. That could make it difficult for all nominees to be ready for floor votes by Inauguration Day.
Democratic officials and senators said they are also looking for comprehensive financial disclosures from each nominee, time to review those disclosures, and completed reviews by the FBI and the Office of Government Ethics before confirmation hearings begin. Some of those demands were also included in Schumer’s letter to McConnell, sources said.
“As soon as President-elect Trump’s nominees have submitted all of their paperwork, (and) senators have had time to review their record and a fair hearing schedule has been agreed to by both parties, the process can move forward. If Republicans think we’re going to quickly greenlight their nominees to fill up this rigged Cabinet without a thorough review, they have another thing coming,” Schumer’s spokesman, Matt House, said.
“Rigged.” They must have focus-grouped that term along with “hacked.”
Let’s take a walk down memory lane and review the treatment the GOP gave some of Obama’s horrible cabinet nominees.
Attorney General Eric Holder was confirmed “overwhelmingly,” wrote the New York Times, in a 75-21 vote. The Times also wrote:
At one time, Republicans indicated that they wanted to give Mr. Holder a rough confirmation ride to signal their political viability at a time when Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress.
But the effort never gained much traction. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, noted Monday that his panel had voted to approve the Holder nomination by 17 to 2, with most Republicans voting in favor.
“That strong, bipartisan vote in favor was a statement that members from both sides of the aisle recognize that Mr. Holder has the character, integrity and independence to be Attorney General,” said Mr. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat. “It is a statement that we all want to restore the integrity and competence of the Justice Department and to restore another critical component — the American people’s confidence in federal law enforcement.”
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was confirmed with more enthusiasm than she received from the public in her 2016 quest for the presidency. The goods on Clinton came out during her failed 2008 presidential campaign and during her husband’s terms as president. Clinton, who won a Senate seat and accomplished nothing of consequence while she served, was approved by the Senate 94-2. Only Republican Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina and David Vitter of Louisiana voted to oppose her. Clinton’s successor, the bumbling John Kerry, was confirmed 94-3.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was confirmed by a voice vote. The New York Times described: “President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Homeland Security Department breezed through a confirmation hearing on Thursday that one senator called a ‘warm and fuzzy’ experience.”
Hilda Solis, Obama’s first secretary of Labor, was confirmed 80-17.
Leon Panetta, shady Clinton associate and Obama’s nominee in 2011 to succeed Bush appointee Gates as secretary of Defense, was confirmed 100-0 for the position. 100-0!!!
From the Washington Post:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also spoke in support of Panetta’s nomination, as did Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). As Graham was talking, one of the Senate’s most outspoken Democrats, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), interrupted to get in a word of praise for Panetta.
“That’s about as bipartisan as you’re going to get,” Graham said, laughing, as Schumer finished his remarks.
It’s time to stop allowing the Democrats to push around the GOP majority in the Senate. If the Democrats want to disrupt the transition of power, the GOP needs to fight them every step of the way. The 2018 Senate campaign season will soon begin, so let’s see how eager some of these vulnerable senators are to stick their necks out. There are 33 seats up for reelection in 2018 and only seven of those are Republican seats. Ten of those Democrat senators seeking reelection are in in Trump states.
Any suggestion by the Democrats that they are going to jack up the confirmation hearings needs to be met with direct action in the Trump states of vulnerable Democrats.
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