Dems who called Trump a ‘threat to democracy’ have now suspended their nominations
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Senate Republicans on Tuesday night opposed President Donald Trump’s plan to quickly confirm national security nominees by passing lengthy procedural votes that would normally be skipped.
“Unfortunately, we were at the point where we could have a consensus vote tomorrow on the confirmation of John Ratcliffe to be CIA director. Not today, not yesterday, but tomorrow when it should be,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on the floor of the chamber. “But the Connecticut senator decided against it at the last minute.”
“I don’t really understand Mr. Ratcliffe’s opposition. He confirmed in the Senate that he is the Director of National Intelligence. He was fully confirmed in the Senate Intelligence Committee. We voted on it yesterday on 14. To 3 votes,” continued Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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Tunu said senators can confirm candidates either the easy way or the hard way. (Reuters)
During the rebuttal, Murphy said there were “serious concerns” from Democrats about Trump’s CIA pick, John Ratcliffe. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to make sure we have two full days of real debate on the Senate floor.
The Connecticut Democrat, in particular, previewed Trump’s last second term as president over the summer. “At the moment there is a lot of stress in the country and in the party, and the problem is because it is so high,” he said.
“It’s because Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy. He’s declaring that he’s going to turn this country from a democracy to a dictatorship,” he said on CNN in July.
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Cotton chairs the Intelligence Committee. (Getty Images)
Murphy’s opposition Tuesday night to expedite a routine procedural vote is the first issue for Democrats to use a strategy employed by Republicans when they were in the Senate to gain bargaining power.
Senate Majority Leader John Tunu, R.S.D., expressed his displeasure with the opposition on the floor, saying, “Okay, so it came out of committee 14 to 3. And now we’ve wasted a whole day when we could have been taking action on this nomination.”
“And I think the real question for the council is, do we want a vote on these people on Tuesday, or do we want them to vote on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that’s what we’re going to do,” he threatened. Weekend sounds in the upper room.
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Ratcliffe is Trump’s pick to lead the CIA. (Getty Images)
“This can be easy or hard.”
Speaking to reporters last week, Murphy hinted at such reluctance.
“I think the Republicans have changed the rules here in the last two years,” he said. “They used extraordinary powers to block nominees and delay every process.”
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Murphy foreshadowed the move last week. (Anna Cashier/Getty Images)
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“The rules are different now, they’ve changed the way the Senate works,” he reiterated.
Thune took action against Ratcliffe, Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noam. Because there’s no deal with Democrats to limit debate and bypass certain procedural votes, the nominees won’t be up for a confirmation vote for more than a day.