Senate Obstruction in Profile A respected Trump Justice nominee is held up for more than a year.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-obstruction-in-profile-1529878140
Key positions throughout the federal government remain vacant more than 500 days into Donald Trump’s Presidency. The President hasn’t put forward enough nominees, a mistake the media have focused on. Yet Senate Democrats—and the occasional Republican—have held up qualified nominees at a scale unprecedented in recent history.
No one understands this better than Brian Benczkowski, who was nominated more than a year ago to lead the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Mr. Benczkowski is a highly qualified choice for Assistant Attorney General: He has held five leadership positions at Justice, including chief of staff to former Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Obama and Clinton appointees have praised his selection, yet Senate Democrats have treated Mr. Benczkowski as if he were Vladimir Putin’s personal attorney.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats sent a letter to President Trump in May—11 months after receiving the nomination—regarding the nominee’s “Russian connections.” They urged the president to drop Mr. Benczkowski over his “representation of the Putin-allied Alfa Bank and his refusal to recuse himself from Russia-related matters.”
What did Mr. Benczkowski’s representation entail? In 2016 news reports surfaced of connections between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank. At the behest of one of his law partners, in 2017 he hired cybersecurity firm Stroz Friedberg to examine some of Alfa Bank’s electronic records. Mr. Benczkowski testified that the limited investigation he oversaw turned up no connections between the bank and Mr. Trump’s business.
Democrats nonetheless demanded that he recuse himself from anything related to Russia. Given the absence of a conflict, Mr. Benczkowski declined to commit to a broad Russia-related recusal, though he said he would recuse from anything involving Alfa Bank.
Democrats now claim Mr. Benczkowski would undermine the Robert Mueller investigation. Never mind that the nominee made clear that he supports the probe and explicitly rejected Mr. Trump’s “witch hunt” characterization. Mr. Mueller reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who supports Mr. Benczkowski.
Democrats also cite his “dearth of courtroom experience” as a reason to oppose someone for a position whose work involves setting policy priorities, not trying cases. Three Criminal Division chiefs under Barack Obama signed a letter backing his nomination, noting “he respects the role of the Justice Department and will work hard to protect the integrity and independence” of the institution.
The worst of this Democratic harassment began after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Mr. Benczkowski’s nomination along party lines last September. A Senator can’t stop a nominee but he can drag out confirmation. And Senate Democrats have done so at a record pace during the Trump Administration.
After a nominee is confirmed by committee, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asks for unanimous consent to take up the nomination. If a Senator objects, this triggers a cloture vote, which requires 30 hours of debate on the Senate floor. With limited floor time Senate leaders might have to choose between passing a farm bill or approving a State Department official.
Some Republicans have also abused the rule. In January Senator Cory Gardner vowed to hold every Justice Department appointment until Attorney General Jeff Sessions took a softer stance on marijuana. Three months later, after the President promised the feds wouldn’t interfere with Colorado’s legal marijuana industry, the Senator lifted his hold. Senate leaders still want to get Mr. Benczkowski and other Justice officials a floor vote, but they’ll have to keep waiting as the Senate is forced to triage nominees.
Through June 21, Trump nominees have taken an average of 87 days to confirm, according to the Partnership for Public Service. Obama appointees had to wait an average of 67 days. Among 670 “key executive branch” positions—agency heads, ambassadors and other leadership roles—147 Trump nominees are still awaiting Senate action.
This is largely because as of June 5 Mr. Trump’s nominees had faced 101 cloture votes. In the first two years of every administration going back to Jimmy Carter, there were only 24 such votes for judicial and executive nominees. Mr. Obama’s nominees faced only a dozen cloture votes in his first two years.
Top jobs at Treasury, Justice, Defense and State remain unfilled as an understaffed Trump Administration grapples with a host of international challenges. These jobs are being filled on a temporary basis, but that’s no way to run a government—even if you don’t like the guy at the top.
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