Breaking the Schumer Stall If Democrats insist on 30 hours of debate, then make them stay in D.C
https://www.wsj.com/articles/breaking-the-schumer-stall-1522192693
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.
One example is Richard Grenell, who was nominated in September to be ambassador to Germany. Mr. Grenell has more than enough foreign-policy experience as the longest-serving U.S. spokesman at the United Nations, and even some liberal groups back him as an openly gay conservative.
Yet when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week asked for unanimous consent to take up Mr. Grenell’s nomination, Oregon’s Jeff Merkley objected. (Mr. Merkley has positioned himself as the leader of the anti-Trump resistance with visions of running for President—which proves that some people will believe anything.)
Such objections trigger a cloture vote, which then sets off 30 hours of floor debate. Cloture votes used to be almost unheard of for nominations other than judges. At this point in the past four presidencies combined, only 15 executive-branch nominees were confirmed after cloture. Yet in the current Congress, Democrats have already invoked cloture on more than 50 Trump nominees. Their goal is simply to slow the formation of a GOP government and soak up valuable Senate floor time.
In early December the Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously to approve the nomination of Kevin McAleenan as commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Control. He didn’t get a full Senate floor vote until last week, and only after cloture. The Senate has failed to confirm ambassadors to 25 nations. It is also sitting on Yleem Poblete, who was nominated in October to be Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Verification and Compliance and is supposed to represent the U.S. in international talks about Syrian chemical weapons.
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. And make them work over recess too.
Older GOP war horses won’t like it, but Democrats running for re-election will suffer more from staying in Washington. Our guess is that Mr. Schumer will soon come around to agreeing to the eight-hour compromise.
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