Senate Democrats continued to play political games with our national security over the weekend, leaving the CIA without a Director as they refused to confirm President Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, Representative Mike Pompeo.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to delay confirmation of President Trump’s cabinet picks, and allowed votes on just two nominees on Friday.
- This is a sharp break from precedent set in 2009, when seven of President Obama’s cabinet members were in place on his first day in office.
- Rep. Pompeo enjoys broad bipartisan support to head the CIA, and even Democrat leaders concede that his nomination is non-controversial and he will be confirmed with Democrat support in today’s vote.
- Schumer’s delay tactics were called “politically petty” by Chuck Todd on Meet the Press yesterday.
- By delaying Rep. Pompeo’s confirmation, Senate Democrats unnecessarily left the CIA leaderless even as several global threats endanger our national security, and did so for purely political reasons.
“Senate Democrats jeopardized national security by leaving the CIA without a Director for purely political reasons,” said NRSC Communications Director Katie Martin. “Despite broad bipartisan support for Rep. Pompeo’s nomination, Chuck Schumer used petty delay tactics to appease the far left, who have demanded that Senate Democrats obstruct confirmation of President Trump’s cabinet at all costs.”
Background:
Senate Democrats blocked a Friday vote on Rep. Pompeo despite broad bipartisan support for his confirmation. “The Senate Friday evening quickly approved Gen. James Mattis for defense secretary and Gen. John Kelly for homeland security secretary by wide margins. But Democrats blocked efforts to include Pompeo in the group confirmed on Trump’s first day in office…But even top Democratic leaders concede that Pompeo’s nomination is largely non-controversial and is set to sail through Monday with wide bipartisan support.” (Susan Crabtree, “Senate to delay vote on Pompeo until Monday,” Washington Examiner, 1/20/17)
Chuck Schumer has threatened to delay confirmation votes for cabinet nominees by “several weeks.” “Democrats cannot stop Trump’s Cabinet with filibusters, thanks to a rules change they pushed through in 2013, but they can prolong the process for weeks by forcing the GOP to burn through extra time before final floor votes are scheduled. Schumer suggested that such a delay could be in the offing. ‘To spend an extra day or two on each nominee; even if it takes several weeks to get through them all in order to carefully consider their nominations…that’s well worth it,’ he said.” (Elana Schor, “Schumer threatens Trump Cabinet confirmation delays,” Politico, 1/9/17)
On “Meet The Press”, Schumer’s delay tactics were called “politically petty.” (NBC’s Meet The Press, 1/22/17)