Posted on 03/28/2018 5:48:22 AM PDT by reaganaut1
One underreported story of the Trump Presidency is how Democrats have abused Senate rules to block political appointees from taking their posts. Senate Republicans have been too slow to press the issue, though they are finally working on a way around Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s obstructionism.
Oklahoma Republican James Lankford is reaching out to Democrats to change a rule that allows 30 hours of Senate debate for every presidential nominee. Liberals are abusing that privilege, invoking it even for nominees with broad bipartisan support. The Senate is sitting on 78 nominees who have already been vetted and passed out of committee but can’t get a floor vote.
...
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week said 43% of Mr. Trump’s nominees await confirmation, and there have been 102 fewer confirmations so far than in even the slowest recent Administration.
Enter Mr. Lankford, who is working to reduce the 30 hours of debate on executive-branch nominees (excluding cabinet secretaries) to eight. This was the standard in 2013-2014 after Republicans then in the minority agreed to a request from Majority Leader Harry Reid, but that deal lapsed with the last Congress.
Mr. Lankford needs 60 votes to change the rule for the remainder of this Congress; he’d need 67 for a permanent rule change. Mr. Schumer and his progressive wing will balk, but Mr. Lankford is talking to Democrats who profess to care about national security, as well as those up for re-election in Trump states.
It’s worth adding that Senate Republicans have been far too accepting of this Democratic stall. They’ve been griping about it for a year to little effect. If Democrats want to insist on 30 hours of debate, then make them stay in Washington on Mondays, Fridays and even weekends to clear the nomination list.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Trump is very good at ‘giving them enough rope to hang themselves’.
I support his methods, as so far, he is gaining ground every month.
The best one so far, IMO, is the tax cuts & the possibility of NO TAX on bonuses people got this year. The fools Dems just cannot realize that Democrat voters also got those tax cuts.......NOT just Republican Trump voters.
Pelosi calls the bonuses “Crumbs”. I sure would have liked a ‘bonus with my social security.
how do you make the RATs stay when your work week is 2 days ?
Kabuki theather. If Senate Republicans wanted Trumps choices in office they’d recess the Senate so that recess appointments could get in overnight.
I assume from your name you are not a troll. Do you think Pence could win?
I like Pence, but we could easily wind up with president Hillary or Moochelle if Trump decides not to run and his replacement stalls out.
Trump isn’t perfect, but he is way better than almost anyone from the other camp.
If Trump endorsed Pence, hopefully Pence would get a very high percentage of Trump voters and add some voters who are turned off by Trump's character.
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