Democrats have the upper hand in the US Senate because the Republicans charged with leading it simply are not doing so.
Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper of record, recently wrote:
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn isn’t convinced the Senate will need to change its schedule, saying that every time Republicans threaten to keep lawmakers in Washington, “Democrats crater and then we get our work done.”
But the Texas Republican also said getting significant numbers of judges approved before the end of this Congress is at the top of the GOP’s to-do list.
Mr. Cornyn, you can do better. Your words sound great, but real actions are more important. It’s laudable that he confirmation of the 21stfederal circuit court judge for President Trump made it through this week, but it still is not good enough. Not by a Texas long shot.
Zero vacancies is the only acceptable number.
Recently, Senator David Purdue of Georgia led a group of 15 other Senators to send a letter to Senate Majority Leader McConnell.
Senator Purdue tweeted at the time:
15 other senators & I have asked Leader McConnell to speed up the Senate’s work pace so we can break through the confirmation backlog & get the gov’t funded on time. We are willing to work nights, weekends, & through the August recess to get this done. #MakeCongressWorkAgain pic.twitter.com/hmGlEIqi1S
— David Perdue (@sendavidperdue) May 11, 2018
Sen. Ted Cruz was one of the signatories of the letter to Senator McConnell. Cornyn did not.
Senator Purdue kept at the important task of getting the Senate to do its job and held a follow-up press conference – hours immediately following John Cornyn’s Roll Call quotes.
Contrast these quotes at the press conference with Senator Cornyn’s quotes above:
“276 nominees are backlogged waiting for a confirmation vote. Pure unadulterated obstructionism.” – Sen. David Purdue.
“We have less than 12 weeks to finish 12 appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year.” – Sen. Joni Ernst.
“The American people can expect more. They can expect much better.” – Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
“We can go from success to even greater success.” – Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
“I spent 28 years in the private sector before coming to Congress. When you are in business, typically budgets are locked down two months before the fiscal year begins. Contrast that to Washington, D.C., we were six months into the nations’ fiscal year before Congress finally passed a spending bill. That is unacceptable. Congress is not getting the people’s business done… This is because of great obstruction that is going on in Congress.” – Sen. Steve Daines of Montana.
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan’s comments are even more alarming:
By any measure of what is going on with the Democrats on the other side is historic obstructionism…Let me give you a little bit…..First term use of Cloture on nominees:
For President George Herbert Walker Bush nominees, cloture was invoked 1 time, for President Bill Clinton 10 times, for President George W. Bush 4 times, for President Barack Obama 17 times, and for the first 17 months of President Donald J Trump’s term, 93 times…That is a story we are trying to address.
Senator Cornyn, use your power to cancel the August break, work nights and weekends, and confirm allpending Judicial and Executive branch nominees before leaving D.C.
Rachel Bovard of the Conservative Partnership Institute writes, “As Democrats have no doubt learned, it’s easy to obstruct everything when there are no consequences for doing so. But if the Republican majority made it just a little more painful, they’d likely be shocked how much they’re able to accomplish.”
Sen. Cornyn, every day you let vulnerable Democrats have the upper hand over the Senate Republican majority is another day conservatives lose trust in your service in D.C. You will own every vacant judgeship in the land when 2020 comes around because we are tired of sending people to Washington for comity in the face of Democrats’ tyranny.
The Republican controlled Senate adjourned for the week on Thursday, May 17, 2018, at 5:16P.M. and will return at 3:00 P.M. on Monday, May 21, 2018.
