Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference, addressed the Senate this week regarding what he described as ongoing obstruction by Senate Democrats of President Trump’s nominees. Lankford stated that the current situation has stalled the Senate’s ability to confirm presidential appointees and called for a return to previous confirmation practices.
During his remarks on the Senate floor, Lankford said, “Mr. President, the Senate’s stuck.
“We’ve had an enormous number of nominations that have tried to be able to work through this body. Quite frankly, it’s the same number that we have every time it’s the first term for a new president, to work its way through the body.
“But this time is different. And it’s not just accidentally different. It’s been intentionally different. I understand my Democratic colleagues have problems politically with President Trump. I get that respectfully, we have differences of opinion on that. But this time has been different. Every single nominee has been blocked. Every single nominee has required a vote for a motion to proceed. Two hours of debate. Another vote.
“Current status, where we are right now, to just do the nominees in our backlog, where we currently sit right now, will take about 900 hours of floor time to be able to just do those. That doesn’t include the ones that are coming next for the next nominations. We’re stuck, and every single one of them requires this kind of time. The Senate’s no longer functioning.”
Lankford further argued that President Trump is being treated differently compared to past presidents in terms of how his nominees are processed by the Senate.
“[We] want to be able to make the argument to the American people. I have to tell you, I have lots of phone calls that have gone to my office [that] say, ‘Why can’t the president actually move his nominees? Why is this? This seems to be different, and people may not know all the numbers and the details, but they feel it and go, Why does it feel like he’s being treated differently?’
“Well, it’s because President Trump is being treated differently by not having a single voice vote, not a single unanimous consent, and not a single time to be grouped together into groups that we know are going to pass. That’s not ever happened in this Senate. And I’ve had multiple colleagues saying, ‘And we’re going to keep blocking every single one.’
“Well, you know what? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We’re trying to figure out how to be able to get us back to our functioning again and to be able to actually operate.”
Republican senators took steps this week aimed at restoring traditional confirmation processes following these delays.
