Schumer: "Opposing" Those HE Supports to Undermine the Government

The Senate recessed today for two weeks and most people are focusing on the Omnibus. The government funding issue is important but so are the people who work for the government. Using obstruction tactics in unprecedented fashion, Democrats have fought against confirming Trump appointees to run the government. As Politifact recently reported:

Compared with recent presidents, Trump has had the fewest nominees confirmed to date, according to the White House.

Trump has also had the smallest percent of nominees confirmed by the Senate at this point in his presidency, relative to recent predecessors. Only 57 percent of Trump’s nominees have been confirmed, below that of Presidents Barack Obama (67 percent), George W. Bush (78 percent), Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush (each with 81 percent).

Polifact tries to muddy the water a bit by saying that this is somehow also Republicans fault for what they did in the last years of Obama.  Whatever the Republicans allegedly did does not compare to what is happening now.  Politifact misses the "why fact."  Democrats are using dilatory, delaying tactics (emphasis ours):

“At this point, in the past four administrations combined -- the last four administrations -- the Senate had conducted 17 cloture votes combined - cloture vote, in essence, being a filibuster on a nominee. Seventeen cloture votes in the last four administrations combined, at this point,” [White House Legislative Director Marc] Short said.

“Today, the Senate has had 79 cloture votes in the first 14 months of our administration. Seventeen, over the last four administrations, versus 79 in the first 14 months of our administration. That is roughly five times the number of the last four administrations combined,” Short said.

He accused Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) of “weaponizing a Senate procedure and demanding cloture votes on our nominees that he even eventually supports.”  

The last point is important.  Schumer is not even trying to defeat nominees, he is just trying to prevent more of Trump’s nominees from being confirmed by wasting time. Each cloture vote wastes 30 hours of Senate floor time. This is not just the White House or even the more fiery Republican Senators who are upset. The respected, low-key, and long serving Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas put it this way:

“Thirty hours is just too much. You have cloture motion filed on a nominee and the nominee gets 98 votes and then you wait 30 hours for nothing else but to slow the process down,” said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)

Shame on Senate Minority Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats for trying to undermine the government by preventing more of President Trump's nominees be confirmed.  They are undermining the government, just the same as if they did not vote to fund it.