Republicans seek to stymie Biden with final Trump nominees - POLITICO
Is it any wonder that the once Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln is now known merely as the gop?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Republicans seek to stymie Biden with final Trump nominees
The Senate GOP is working to stock the government with conservative appointments in the lame duck.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arrives to talk to reporters after a Republican Conference luncheon, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. | AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Two months before Joe Biden assumes the presidency, Senate Republicans are racing to install a series of conservative nominees that will outlast Donald Trump.
While Trump still refuses to concede the election, the Senate GOP is moving quickly to ensure that the president's stamp sticks to the Federal Elections Commission, Federal Reserve Board, the federal judiciary and beyond.
The effort played out in dramatic fashion this week, as Senate Republicans tried to muscle Judy Shelton onto the Fed by the narrowest of margins but fell short amid senators' absences from the coronavirus. They're also plotting a confirmation vote for Christopher Waller, Trump's less controversial Fed pick.
The last-minute push to confirm Shelton, Waller and others is a key part of the Senate GOP's bid to wield power in the dwindling days of a Republican presidency — even if most in the party still won't acknowledge Biden's victory.
With coronavirus relief negotiations at an impasse, the to-do list for the lame duck session will in all likelihood be limited to funding the government, passing an annual defense bill and confirming nominees.
Senate Republicans also have the majority on their mind, with twin run-off races in Georgia that will determine control of the chamber. While Republicans are favored, Democrats could flip the Senate if they win both seats. That's got the GOP eager to do what they can between now and January while their majority is assured.
The Senate held hearings Wednesday for three nominees to the Federal Election Commission, a panel that has struggled to hold a quorum during Trump's presidency. If Senate Rules Chair Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) can get all three nominees through the committee and ready for the floor in December, the nation's chief campaign finance watchdog will have a full slate of commissioners for the first time in years.
By law, the six-member commission cannot have more than three members from the same party serving, so the GOP would not have an advantage, but it would give Trump an opportunity to leave his mark.
When asked about the timing of hearings for the FEC nominees, Blunt responded that filling lifetime vacancies was the first priority but "there just aren't many of them left."
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is moving quickly to advance a new tranche of judicial nominees, including Thomas Kirsch to take a seat on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to replace Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats are protesting the committee moving forward on new judicial nominees after Trump's defeat, but Graham dismissed their concerns in an interview.
This week alone, the Senate confirmed four district court judges.
"The forces behind this operation want to see these goals accomplished," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). "They spent a lot of good money for the majority that's doing it and they want to use every last day of it."
Meanwhile, the Senate Energy Committee advanced two nominees this week for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees the nation's electricity markets. If confirmed, the picks would lock in three Republican appointees on the five-member commission through mid-2021.
Senate Republicans also face pressure to jam through Trump's nominee to the FCC. Doing so would delay Biden's ability to form a Democratic majority at the five-member regulatory body next year and likely push off new regulations such as a revival of the Obama-era net neutrality rules. Trump himself has needled Senate Republicans to pick up the pace on the appointment, a Commerce Department staffer named Nathan Simington who some conservatives see as critical to Trump's attempted crackdown on social media giants.
"When you have openings in agencies that are usually Republican you probably want to fill it while he's president. But this is not new ground we're plowing," Graham said of the party's efforts.
Even though Trump has largely remained out of sight since losing the Nov. 3 election and continues to block the transition of power, the White House is still sending nominations over to the Senate.
On Tuesday, Trump announced his intent to nominate Brian Brooks to a five-year term as Comptroller of the Currency. Brooks currently holds the role in an acting capacity and Senate Banking Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) told reporters he'd consider the nomination given that "Trump is president until this election is resolved, and maybe beyond."
While Republicans may view the lame duck session as a final opportunity to implement their conservative agenda before Biden is inaugurated, Democrats see a Trump-led effort to impede the president-elect wherever possible.
"Whether it's new sanctions against Iran or a pull-out from Afghanistan or FEC and Fed nominees, Trump's goal right now is to sort of sabotage and make complicated a Biden administration to the maximum extent possible," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), adding that Senate Republicans "are along for the ride on all of it."
John Hendel, Anthony Adragna, Victoria Guida and Zach Montellaro contributed to this report.
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Is it any wonder that the once Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln is now known merely as the gop?
What's a gop?
A gop is defined as that nasty brown slimy substance often found at the very bottom of a dirty refrigerator underneath the crisper drawer.
it's what's left in the toilet shortly after a cup of coffee and a bran muffin ...
I seeded on this article topic yesterday not seeing this one but my article was celebrating what the senate is doing and I’m well pleased by it as well.
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After a generation of do nothing Congresses Americans have achieved nothing and it has Americans doing nothing. Obstructionism has become an art form.
Doing nothing is not only accepted, it is expected. BOOOOO!
If you are one of those who thinks one party always standing in the way of progress is good then you are the problem. So, BOOOOO to you, too!
This nation is rich and powerful. Why waste all that?
A quarter of a million Americans are dead... millions more are in desperate financial trouble.
But the GOP never loses its focus on what it considers important: kneecapping Biden.
Mitch has his priorities....
Yep, that's the plan. I doubt the American people want all three branches of government in Democrat hands, though.
Mitch could maybe take a few minutes from his busy screw-Biden schedule to help the country's Covid victims, health and financial.
How is that any different than the 4 year democratic referendum of "screw Trump" for no other reason than he is not named Hillary?
Cool.
You (collective plural) cannot justify Mitch's unthinking, incessant obstruction.
So you "what about".
Cool. Despicable.
What should he do that is not being done?
Relief for Covid economic victims.
Sorry but your post made zero sense.
So take your grievances to Nancy.
The Dems passed legislation in the House many months ago.
The way it is different is that it is actually happening in the real world rather than in your head.
it would give Trump an opportunity to leave his mark.
Dogs do that. They usually piss on trees or hire hydrants but Trump did it to the US.
Fire not hire. My bad.
I think the Democrats should focus some real attention on educating the Georgia voters as to how Trump and the Republican Senate are working overtime to sabotage Biden and cripple America, in order to make sure there is a maximum vote for the Democrats running for those two seats. Although I know that it is probably a good thing to have "checks and balances", I don't think it should apply when there is so much bad faith being shown by the Republicans. America is being divided by Trump and his cohorts into two separate countries before our very eyes - it's uncanny.
Seems you would be in favor of the Republicans winning those seats for the sake of checks and balances, because with a democrat control of the two branches and then packing the court, you'll see a divided country when, as you suggested, half the country starts getting sent to re-education camps.
And just who is dividing the country anyways? On CBS this morning, they had HHS secretary Azar answering questions and the question came up about Trump not sharing information about what's happening with the covid crisis and Azar's answer was there is nothing being hidden, it's all transparent, all government agencies are apprised of everything that is happening, and the public knows everything. So the reporter asked the question, with a 'yeah right' look on his face, "So what your saying is Biden is incorrect with his claim?" (I would insert "lying" in place of "incorrect") and Azar said "That would be correct". Gayle came back with something like "Then we have a difference of opinion" with a shocked look on her face. Then the next report was about Trump not cooperating with Biden on the pandemic and the insinuation that people are dying because of that, I came unglued and started yelling at the TV, so again, just who is dividing the country?
Thanks for your opinion, and for permitting me to have one as well.
America is being divided by Trump and his cohorts into two separate countries before our very eyes - it's uncanny.
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You mean Hillary refused to concede? You mean Obama did everything possible to reverse the election result once the winner was proclaimed by the media? I'm glad you informed me of something I didn't know, because otherwise I might actually have been stupid.
Hey! You're old enough to remember the last sitting Democratic President to lose.
You surely remember Jimmy Carter's many months of maneuvering to subvert the result.
And of course... we all remember how Carter petulantly did everything possible to undercut the transition...
You already know that I have no idea what your YouTube was. I don't want to go through this with you again with what it led to the last time.
It's Carter's very classy concession speech.
Carter was too much of a gentleman to be POTUS - he was in many ways the opposite of Trump. I'll never forget the scene while I was watching on TV Pierre Elliott Trudeau's funeral (yes, Justin's father, Canada's former P.M.) when Carter and Fidel Castro had side-by-side seats on the aisle and they kept trying to have the other take the inner one of the seats. Castro finally won the aisle seat.
Carter has class.
Trump does not.
Wow. Look at the responses I got. I'm watching America going to hell and there are people here who are kicking it along the way.
America's finest characteristic has been its yearning for human rights. Now we see that very nearly half of all Americans would now impose their will on the others... who mathematically are more than half.
America is a failed state, not because of a miserable President, but because of the people who have supported him... and still do.
What's going to hell, we now have vaccines almost ready to go, the infrastructure is in place to deliver it when ready, and it was done without Biden's input, which BTW if we had to wait now for Biden to OK everything because he is the president-elect then that would just slow things down. As Azar put it this morning, the spread of the virus now is because of the colder weather forcing everyone inside and closer together, there's no "something" being kept from Biden about it.
Tomorrow the sky will be blue!
Today, another 1000+ will die.
Gosh! The weather gets colder in Winter! Hooda thunk it?? I'm so grateful to our good ol' Alex for explaining this complicated science...
... and for explaining the reinforced anti-Covid measures that the Administration is taking because of the colder weather.
... ... ... ... what's that you say?? ... ... ... There are no reinforced measures, because ... there are no ordinary measures, already...
I see...
Update - TWO thousand.
More deniers every day as well, it appears.