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Trump Appointments Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 10, 2017 8 Comments
Voting along party lines, the Senate has confirmed Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Democrats once again held the Senate to a 30 hour debate to change minds of the Republicans, but failed once again. This is a huge first step for Republicans in Congress who want to repeal and replace Obamacare, which Price "has been prominent in pushing alternatives" to the law.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 08, 2017 47 Comments
There was a fair bit of drama in the Senate last night. Senate Democrats are hosting yet another sleepover to protest the upcoming confirmation vote on Senator Sessions' appointment as Attorney General, knowing full well they don't have the votes to stop his confirmation. They pulled the same stunt prior to the confirmation vote for Betsy DeVos, the new Education Secretary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) began reading a letter written by Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The letter was written in protest of Sen. Sessions nomination as a federal judge in 1986, and according to Senate Republicans, spoke ill of the soon-to-be AG.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 07, 2017 35 Comments
The Senate has confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education after Vice President Mike Pence cast his tie-breaking vote for her. DeVos became the most contested nominee for a Cabinet position for President Donald Trump. https://twitter.com/cspan/status/829021954489384960

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 04, 2017 17 Comments
The political sailing has not been smooth for many of President Trump's nominees, and the process of approving Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency is no exception. After being a target of one of the many Democratic Senate committee boycotts, Pruit cleared the log-jam:
Senate Republicans pressed forward on Thursday with the confirmation of President Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, suspending the Environment and Public Works Committee’s rules to approve the cabinet pick despite a Democratic boycott.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 03, 2017 25 Comments
The Senate woke up bright and early Friday morning to vote on President Donald Trump's education secretary Betsy DeVos to advance her to a final vote on Monday. She advanced with a 52-48 vote, but her confirmation vote will not come easy.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 01, 2017 36 Comments
Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump's pick for Education Secretary, may have escaped her Senate committee hearing, but she just lost two Republicans on the Senate floor. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine told the Senate that neither one can vote to confirm DeVos:
"I come to the floor to announce a very difficult decision that I have made, and that is to vote against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be our nation's next secretary of Education," Collins said from the Senate floor. Collins specifically pointed to DeVos's "lack of familiarly" with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, saying she was "troubled and surprised."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 01, 2017 9 Comments
After intense blowback and promises of confirmation obstruction for Trump's SCOTUS nominee, Neil Gorsuch, Trump suggested the Senate employ the "Nuclear Option" to move Judge Gorsuch to Justice Gorsuch. The Nuclear Option would allow the Senate to confirm Gorsuch with a simple majority as opposed to 60 votes. "Mitch, go nuclear," Trump said in a press conference Wednesday:

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 31, 2017 47 Comments
On MSNBC this evening, Chris Matthews cautioned Democratic Senators that if they vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, they will have to answer for it for the rest of their political career. His reasoning was a supremely political one: that at age 49, Gorsuch is likely to be on the Court for 30 years. And that any Dem voting to confirm him would have to answer, over all those years, for his decisions on controversial issues such as abortion and gun rights: "it will be on you," warned Matthews.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 31, 2017 19 Comments
It's a grand old time in the Senate today! I reported earlier that a few Senate Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted the vote to approve Rep. Tom Price as Human and Health Services (HHS) Secretary and Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary. The drama did not end there. The Democrats have dragged their feet on many of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees, but it appears Trump needs his attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, as soon as possible. He fired Sally Yates, who received the appointment of acting attorney general from President Barack Obama, after she told Justice Department lawyers not to comply with his immigration executive order. But the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee cannot stop attacking Sessions long enough to hold a vote to move his confirmation to the Senate floor.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 31, 2017 20 Comments
Crybabies. Some Senate Democrats have decided to boycott committee votes to advance Re. Tom Price (R-GA) for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary and Steven Mnuchin for Treasury secretary. From The Hill:
“I can’t understand why senators, who know we’re going to have these two people go through, can’t support the committee,” said Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2017 14 Comments
Donald Trump recently said that he would announce his Supreme Court pick on Thursday. But there are multiple reports today that the announcement may come as early as Monday. Moving up the pick would be viewed as a conversation changer after a media frenzy over the weekend regarding the visa and refugee Executive Order. The AP reports:
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