Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement following a vote by Senate Republicans to change Senate rules regarding presidential nominations. The rule change allows for faster consideration of President Trump’s nominees.
Durbin stated that prior to the recent recess, Democrats and Republicans had been negotiating in good faith to resolve a backlog of nominations in a bipartisan manner. According to Durbin, these negotiations were disrupted at the last minute by President Trump. He criticized Senate Republicans for proceeding with the rule change instead of resisting pressure from the White House.
“Before the recess, Senate Democrats worked in good faith with Senate Republicans to negotiate a package of nominations to break the deadlock and move these nominations through the chamber in an expedited, professional, and bipartisan fashion. At the very last minute, however, President Trump blew up the negotiation. Rather than stand up to him, Senate Republicans are now willing to give away the Senate’s authority when it comes to advice and consent. Senate Republicans claim they are violating Senate rules just for this set of nominees, but I’m afraid this is going to open the door to rushing through more extreme nominations whose only qualification seems to be loyalty to the chief,” Durbin said.
The rule change affects how quickly presidential nominees can be confirmed by reducing debate time or other procedural hurdles traditionally used by senators during confirmation processes.
