Dem attempt to thwart Trump noms backfires, Republicans tee up nearly 100 for confirmation
Senate Democrats attempted to derail a batch of dozens of President Donald Trump's nominees but ended up giving Senate Republicans a surprise victory in the process.Republicans were on the way...
By Fox News · Fox News
Senate Democrats attempted to derail a batch of dozens of President Donald Trump's nominees but ended up giving Senate Republicans a surprise victory in the process. Republicans were on the way to starting the long procedural process of confirming 88 of Trump’s picks but were blocked by Sen. Michael Bennet , D-Colo., over an issue with one of the nominees in the group. When Senate Republicans went nuclear and changed the rules surrounding the confirmation process earlier this year to break through Senate Democrats’ blockade, they limited the scope to only sub-cabinet level positions that would be advanced through a simple, 50-vote majority. SENATE CONFIRMS DOZENS OF TRUMP NOMINEES IN FIRST TEST OF NEW NUCLEAR RULES Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said ahead of the vote that Democrats’ failed blockade of Trump’s picks could be chalked up to "Trump Derangement Syndrome." "Democrats and their base still can't deal with the fact that President Trump won last November," Thune said. "And so they have held up every single one, every single one of his nominations in revenge. But Republicans have not been daunted. We've just continued plowing ahead on nominations, helping us rack up a historic number of votes this year in the process." But one of the nominees in the group, Sara Bailey, was considered a "level 1" nominee, meaning she would hold a cabinet-level position. Trump tapped Bailey in March to be his drug czar as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. SENATE GOP LEADER MOVES TO LOWER FILIBUSTER THRESHOLD FOR TRUMP NOMINEES THROUGH NUCLEAR OPTION Her inclusion in the package meant that in order for the 87 other nominees to be confirmed, Republicans would have to break the 60-vote filibuster threshold, which was unlikely given Senate Democrats' wholesale disapproval of many of Trump’s picks. Senate Republicans took advantage of the opportunity and have decided to tack on even more of the president’s picks in a new, beefed-up package that wil…