Senate Democrats on Friday rejected Republicans who chastised them for slow-walking President Trump’s Cabinet nominees, and argued that payback is warranted because the GOP blocked President Obama’s high-court nominee last year.
“For the first time in the history of the United States of America, the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate refused a hearing and a vote on a nominee to the Supreme Court,” said Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill. “That went on for the entire duration of the Obama presidency.”
Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, was never confirmed, and with Trump now in office, a GOP high-court pick will likely fill the vacancy.
Durbin’s remark came after Republicans called on Senate Democrats to speed up confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet picks, and pointed out that they helped confirm seven of Obama’s nominees on his first day in office in 2009. But Democrats want more time to hold debates and receive financial and ethical information about Trump’s picks, particularly the wealthy ones.
Durbin said Republicans in 2015 took their time confirming Attorney General Loretta Lynch, allowing her nomination to sit untouched for months.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he’ll agree to quickly confirm national security nominees but Democrats plan to use floor time for “a full and vigorous debate” on the remaining nominees because they believe the GOP “made a mockery” of the vetting process during committee hearings.
Schumer called Trump’s Cabinet “full of billionaires and bankers and full of conflicts of interest and ethical lapses.”
Republicans want Democrats to at least allow a fast vote on Trump’s pick to head the CIA, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan. His nomination is being held up by Sen. Ron Wyden, R-Ore., who wants more information about Pompeo’s views on surveillance policies and other issues.
“This is about whether the Senate is going to be a rubber stamp and abdicate its responsibility to do oversight,” Wyden said.
