Thune: Democrats Are Wasting Time and Losing Ground
“I hope that my Democrat colleagues will come to the table. Otherwise we’re going to be spending a whole lot more time here on the Senate floor.”
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:
Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):
“Mr. President, appropriations season is well underway.
“The Senate Appropriations Committee has so far passed six bipartisan appropriations bills, and Republicans are ready to consider a package of appropriations bills and have a floor process.
“One that involves serious amendments from both sides of the aisle – amendments designed to improve the bills, not score political points or sink the bills with poison-pill measures.
“And there have been some encouraging signs that some of my Democrat colleagues are ready to come to the table on this.
“And I hope that will prove to be true, and that we’ll be able to finish an appropriations package in the coming days, and then work with the House in August to get the legislation ready to send to the president.
“We’re going to have a lot more appropriations work to do in September, and I will continue to push for a regular-order process with debate and amendment on the Senate floor.
“And hopefully my Democrat colleagues will support that effort.
“It is in the interest, Mr. President, of both parties to have a regular-order, bipartisan process.
“And at least some Democrats have acknowledged as much.
“And it would be nice to see that attitude prevail in the Democrat Party generally.
“I will say, Mr. President, it was disturbing to see the Democrat leader threaten to shut down the government a few weeks ago, and I hope – I really hope – that Democrats will not embrace that position.
“Mr. President, in addition to moving forward on an appropriations package, the other thing we need to get done in short order is a package of nominations.
“Now, while Senate Republicans have made excellent progress on confirming nominees, we could be a lot farther along if Democrats hadn’t so far decided to slow-walk every single civilian nomination from the president.
“I don’t need to tell anyone here that it’s usual for presidents to get a percentage of their nominees confirmed quickly here in the Senate by either unanimous consent or voice vote.
“That’s been the practice for decades.
“By this point in his presidency, Joe Biden had had 121 civilian nominees confirmed, and 49 of them had been confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent.
“49 – or a full 40 percent.
“Mr. President, you want to know how many civilian nominees President Trump has had confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote?
“None.
“Zero.
“Zero percent.
“Now, Mr. President, I think it’s important, I’ve got a chart here, just for purposes of informing people about what this looks like, as I mentioned, over the past several decades.
“If you start with President [George] H.W. Bush ‘41,’ 98 percent of his nominees to positions in the federal government were confirmed by either unanimous consent or voice vote.
“In other words, basically, the recognition was that these are people who need to be in these positions.
“These are important jobs that need to be filled in our government so people can carry out their responsibilities and duties on behalf of our country.
“98 percent of the nominees were confirmed either by unanimous consent or voice in his first term.
“So let’s go back to a Democrat president, Bill Clinton.
“Same thing, Mr. President.
“98 percent of President Bill Clinton’s nominees were confirmed either by unanimous consent or by voice vote.
“In other words, both sides agreeing in a bipartisan way that it’s important to have positions in our government filled.
“So that’s Bill Clinton, Democrat president.
“Then we had George W. Bush ‘43.’
“90 percent of his nominees were confirmed either by voice or unanimous consent – 90 percent.
“Then you get another Democrat president, Barack Obama.
“90 percent of his nominees were confirmed either by voice or unanimous consent – 90 percent.
“Meaning that pretty much everybody here on both sides of the aisle recognized that there are important positions in our government that need to be filled – most of which, at least many of which, like they are today, are bipartisan when they come out of the committee.
“Well, then we move into President Trump’s first term, that number dropped down to 65.
“And then, of course, in the Biden administration, Republicans also started to say, ‘Well, if the Dems are going to do it, we will, too.’
“That number dropped down to 57.
“But it’s still important to point out, Mr. President, that even in the last Democrat presidency, with Joe Biden, 57 percent – 57 percent – of his nominees to positions within the federal government were confirmed either by unanimous consent or voice vote here in the United States Senate.
“And then you look at the current president, President Trump, in his second term: Zero.
“This isn’t sustainable.
“We can’t keep on this track, Mr. President.
“This has got to change.
“And it will change.
“Either Democrats are going to play ball or we’re going to figure out a way to change it ...
“By the way, there are 1,100 executive branch nominations – which, in my view, is way too many to start with – that have to come through the Senate for confirmation.
“1,100 of them – many of whom, at this rate, aren’t going to get in their jobs before President Trump leaves office.
“You just can’t do this.
“This isn’t a sustainable practice.
“So something’s going to give ...
“The Democrats are going to start to play ball and do what every other Congress – Republican and Democrat, with every other president, Republican and Democrat – has done when it comes to allowing the president, who won an election fair and square, and tens of millions of people voted for him, to be able to put his people into their respective offices so … he can do the job the American people voted for him to do.
“So I’m just going to say one more time, Mr. President: Zero.
“Zero.
“And as recently as the last presidential administration, a Democrat president, Joe Biden, 57 percent were confirmed by unanimous consent [or voice vote].
“So let me just say, Mr. President, there are important jobs in the government that are currently standing empty – eight months, now, into this president’s term – because Democrats have dragged out the confirmation process and denied President Trump the courtesy that Republicans and Democrats alike in the past have extended to previous presidents.
“Mr. President, I will say that I do think there are at least some of my colleagues – Democrats on the other side of the aisle – who would like to maintain the kind of courtesy on nominations that prevailed in the Senate before this year.
“And I am hoping – really hoping – that those more pragmatic Democrats will prevail and pave the way for us to work together for the next few days to approve a nominations package.
“We have a lot of bipartisan nominees who are available for consideration right now.
“And we should be able to quickly approve their nominations.
“And again, Mr. President, I hope that my Democrat colleagues will come to the table.
“Otherwise we’re going to be spending a whole lot more time here on the Senate floor.”
Related Issues: Nominations
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