Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) joined Brian Kilmeade on Fox Radio Monday to discuss the Democrats’ “unprecedented” obstruction of President Donald Trump’s civilian nominees. He said:
This is unprecedented, what they’re doing. This is the first president in history who has never had, at this point in his presidency, a civilian nominee approved either by unanimous consent or voice vote in the Senate, which is a way of expediting nominees that you know are broadly supported. So, they [Democrats] are delaying, obstructing, blocking, at every point in the process. So I totally appreciate the President’s frustration with what’s happening on the nominee front.
Kilmeade noted that, of the 259 positions requiring confirmation, only 97 have been filled—well below the number confirmed at this point in the Obama administration. [Note: Kilmeade’s statistics did not include the nominees that were confirmed last week – the total is now 107.]
Thune pointed out that, slow as the process may seem, “we’re at about double the rate of [this same time in] 2017.” The difference, he said, is that in 2017, “going into the August recess, the Democrats agreed to process a bunch of nominees in agreement with Republicans. So far, they haven’t indicated any desire to do that.”
While Democrats strongly oppose the confirmations of nominees Jeanine Pirro, Emil Bove, Mike Waltz, and Paul Ingrassia, they are slow walking the confirmations of “many other less controversial figures,” according to Fox.
Republicans are trying to hammer out a deal with Democrats to see that more low-hanging fruit nominees, like ambassadors, get the green light for a faster process on the Senate floor, and are willing to keep lawmakers in town over the weekend if their counterparts don’t relent.
Veteran journalist and senior congressional analyst at The Washington Stand Mark Tapscott explained that Democratic senators, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), are “opposing unanimous consent on every Trump nominee that [Thune] brings to the floor.”
According to Tapscott:
Traditionally, non-controversial presidential nominations are waved through with a unanimous consent motion, but that isn’t happening in the 119th Congress. Democrats are using every parliamentary tactic possible to delay the confirmations, including withholding their consent whenever a unanimous motion is offered.That stops the nomination in its tracks and throws multiple wrenches into the legislative process.Because Democrats are forcing debate and roll-call votes on all nominees — rather than just on those on which there are genuine issues — the legislative process is being hampered just when the government could face another shutdown crisis when Congress returns in September after the Labor Day holiday.
Tapscott cites remarks from a July 24 floor speech from Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) who told colleagues that it “took relentless procedural battles” to confirm the first 107 nominees. “It included full days and long nights. Why? Because Democrats are waging a coordinated campaign of obstruction.”
Barrasso accused the Democrats of turning the Senate’s advice and consent role relating to confirmations into “into automatic opposition. It doesn’t just delay President Trump. It damages the country,” he said.
Barrasso added:
Democrats have filibustered all but one of President Trump’s nominees, and that was the very first nominee — now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He was confirmed on day one of this administration. Since then, it has been a wall of obstruction. Democrats filibustered positions requiring confirmation that have never before had a roll call vote in the United States Senate.
As the minority party, Democrats view obstruction as their only leverage. But have they lost sight of the fact that Republicans can—and likely will—do the same when the roles are reversed?
Recall then–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s insistence upon invoking the “nuclear option” to eliminate the filibuster (the 60-vote threshold) for most presidential nominations, including federal judges (but excluding Supreme Court nominees), in 2013.
Then in 2017, when the GOP held the majority, Mitch McConnell extended the nuclear option to include Supreme Court nominees. This allowed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to be confirmed with simple majorities, reshaping the Court’s ideological balance.
Here are some excerpts from Thune’s recent interview with The Daily Caller:
Historically, there’s always been an effort on the sides to kind of figure out ways to work together and put people in positions, and they’re important positions that need to be filled, but the Dems are just completely obstructing….No president in history has gotten to this point in their presidency and not had a nominee confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote….If they set this as a new precedent, whenever they get the White House again and have the Senate again, it’s going to get really ugly.
Still, Thune is determined to get the job done. As he told Kilmeade, “We’re just gonna grind it out and wear ’em [Senate Democrats] down.”
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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