The White House wants Congress to vote on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court, approve $1.9 billion in emergency spending to fight the Zika virus and pass legislation allowing Puerto Rico to restructure its debt, among other things, before adjourning for its annual August recess.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest also listed “dealing with the opioids epidemic in this country” as a top priority. “Back in February,” President Obama proposed spending “$1 billion to expand treatment options” for healthcare professionals and communities seeking to help addicts, Earnest said.
The Obama administration would like lawmakers to make “progress on criminal justice reform,” Earnest said, referring to pending bipartisan legislation that would overhaul the nation’s sentencing laws.
“That certainly is not an exhaustive list, but I think it gives you a good idea of what our priorities are,” Earnest said.
Earnest said normally, the Senate would have already held hearings on the the nomination of Garland, the chief justice of the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia. Republicans have blocked any consideration of the nomination, however, and have said the next president should choose a judge to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
“If we were following along the timeline for previous Supreme Court nominees to be considered and confirmed by the Senate, Chief Judge Garland would have been confirmed months ago,” Earnest said.
“This is evidence of Republicans failing to do their job,” he charged.
