Posted on 12/12/2014 12:39:12 PM PST by jazusamo
Senate Republicans are throwing up obstacles to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) plans to confirm a batch of executive and judicial branch nominees this weekend.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said if Reid wants to confirm 12 pending federal district judges, he will have to run them through the regular floor process, which could take days.
Grassley noted that Republicans don’t have enough votes to block the judicial nominees but they can drag out the process, which may force Reid to bring the Senate in next week if he wants to get the job done. “If he wants to do it he can do it because it only takes 51 votes. The question is will enough people stay around for the hour of debate on each one of them and sit it out,” he said. “Does he want to put his colleagues to that effort.”
Grassley said the nominees will carry over and can be confirmed next year, when Republicans control the Senate.
He said he would not yield back time to let Reid confirm the batch of nominees Friday evening or Saturday.
“I don’t know what Republicans do, I know that I won’t,” he said. “I won’t let it happen.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would not yield back any time on Anthony Blinken’s nomination to serve as deputy secretary of State.
“I personally have an objection to Tony Blinken’s nomination. He refused to answer my questions on Cuba policy in a straightforward way,” he said. “I understand that at the end of the day that if they’re willing to stay for a long period of time they’re going to get him [confirmed] but I intend to force them to use all of that time.”
Another contentious nominee is Sarah Saldaña, President Obama’s pick to head Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Reid said Tuesday that he wanted to confirm Saldaña before adjourning Congress for the year but Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has called her a “rubber stamp for amnesty.”
Well, we have SOME Republicans doing the job (standing up to Obama) that Boehner refuses to do. Keep it up!
One being he ended negotiations on Obamacare back in the day and was largely responsible for NO Repub voting for the ACA.
He will be excellent as judiciary Chair IMO.
Good...something. Slow it down.
Couldn’t agree more and Leaky Leahy will be out as Chair.
The people have spoken in the recent elections. There is no need to rush these nominees through a lame duck session just because Democrats are not going to be in the majority much longer. Let the new GOP Senate review these people. If they are actually quality responsible nominees, and not political hacks, they should have no problems in the GOP Senate.
Lame duck legislating is worse than lame. It’s an insult to We the People, short of impending war.
Yep, and I’m pretty sure a number of them are hacks and is why Reid wants to jam them through.
When the GOP gets control in January, that should be the END of any ability OZero has to appoint anyone. Nobody should be hired. No judges, no cabinet members, nobody. And no bills should be passed, either.
The message should be that if Obama thinks Fedzilla needs a defense secretary or more judges and money to spend, he should resign.
Congress would then deal with Biden for the next two years, which is not ideal. Ideally, the GOP should demand the resignation of OZero AND Biden, which would put Boehner in the White House. But that’s negotiable.
What should be non-negotiable is the principle that NOTHING gets done until OZero vacates the presidency.
Anyone believing the GOP is a FOOL.
The GOP’s only excitement is protecting
Obola and stabbing the Constitution and
conservatives ... in the heart.
They stand up as long as it doesn't matter then they don't.
Yes, It's not the 1700's or 1800's (where travel times took months) anymore
There's no reason that after the election, the newly elected congressmen can immediately take right over while the old members who were voted out can immediately GTFO.
You lose an election or retire you should be done and never allowed to propose or vote on bills.
In the instant case, obviously it makes little difference. That POS in the house gave the dems everything they wanted and then heaped on a few bennies for his banker buddies.
One of his collaberators runs here as if he is a staunch conservative. I reminded him of his campaign rhetoric about illegal aliens “not on my watch” platform in the e mail I forwarded to his office telling him he can find me on the dem rolls until he is out. In fact, I think we should all vote for the dems, they can take this thing over the edge and maybe we can put the pieces back together when the whole bunch of those bums are gone.
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