The President Needs a Full Roster
By Sen. John Thune
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Christopher Wray. He was nominated by the president to serve as the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Christopher is eager to get to work leading the thousands of dedicated men and women at the FBI who work hard to protect the United States every single day. While I’m confident Christopher would report to the Hoover Building tomorrow if he could, my Democrat colleagues have unnecessarily dragged their feet on his and other nominations.
Hundreds of presidential nominees like Christopher must first come before the Senate for vetting, a committee hearing, and ultimately consideration on the Senate floor. This is an important and centuries-old Constitutional process – one that I don’t take lightly. Many of these nominees come through the committee I chair, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. We’ve worked hard to process as many of them as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
The Senate’s duty to provide its advice and consent is critical and should be timely. Yes, it’s important for the president to have his team place, but it’s more important for these federal agencies to be staffed-up because of the work they do for the American people. These are the folks who help “keep the trains running” at agencies like the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture and help protect the United States at the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
Unfortunately, my Democrat colleagues have ground the confirmation process on the Senate floor nearly to halt – not because they have problems with the qualifications of the nominees, but because they think they’re punishing the president. Again, it’s ultimately the American people who pay the price when federal agencies don’t have the right people in place to deliver the services and safeguards upon which so many folks rely.
To put it in real terms, as of July 25, only 55 of President Trump’s nominees, which include judges and administration officials, had been confirmed by the Senate, and more than half of those nominees had to overcome unnecessary filibusters. During that same period of time in 2009, President Obama had more than 200 nominees confirmed. With respect to cabinet nominees, by the end of January 2017, President Trump had just three of his cabinet secretaries confirmed. By the end of January 2009, the Senate had confirmed 10 of President Obama’s cabinet secretaries.
This is obstruction for the sake of obstruction. I hope my Democrat colleagues realize sooner rather than later that it’s just as important for this president to have a full roster in his administration as it was for the last president. The American people deserve it.
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Hey Lurch, how many vacancies are there because your Cult45 “glorious leader” hasn’t nominated anybody—- Why don’t you ever do anything but whine with these poor victim columns? You and yours own the congress and White House . I didn’t wade through all your crap….. did you blame Clinton and Obama also—- You are an insult to the people of S.D.
Jaa Dee,
A major reason this administration is having a hard time filling vacancies is because not many people would like to have any association with it on their resumes. They have no problem throwing each other under the bus, chaos, nutty and unprofessional tweets unbecoming of the office. Career killer! You would not find those issues with any other administration. Luckily a few good people are in the administration like Mattis who can control to some degree this manchild president. What a disaster!
Exactly my point..
Jan Dee you should stay over on Heidleberg’s page where they all cheer your whining, beat your drums and honk your horn. Seriously the level of intellect you just presented barely registers as noise over here. Laughable!
John Thune has always given South Dakota his all and bent over backwards to maintain political integrity in a highly conservative State.
Go back to Chicago and shoot your mouth off.
JaaDee is out there, but after the way Republicans obstructed Obama, how can you be surprised by this?
after the way the Democrats obstructed Bush how can you be surprised by any of this? That’s why Thune beat Daschle.
Obama faced obstruction because he was arrogant and aloof and wouldn’t talk to anybody in leadership. He wasn’t like Bill Clinton who would call them up in the middle of the night to bounce ideas off of them.
Trump probably thinks he’s doing the same thing tweeting in the middle of the night, but it’s not the same as making a phone call.
” after the way the Democrats obstructed Bush” like stopping an invasion based on lies, his tax cuts, that lead to the biggest recession in history?
OUT WHERE ???— You folks need to get outta the bubble and see what other discussion forums are like…..
It is N OT Jan Dee– that is ok I know “you people” have comprehension impairments— I tried the Hidiburger bunch— I despise those faux intellectual fools, told then so and came her with folks I like better….
“Go back to Chicago and shoot your mouth off.”?– Wellll aren’t you just the cutest thang—- Thune is a lap dog for the delusional idiot elected by “you people” and his columns are always nothing but a whine fest about the mean ole Dems….
Hey little Princess you criticize my comment— how bout you replying to it? You want a factual discussion hot shot—-go for it sweetie pie…. I’ll be your huckliberry.—— ????
This administration is a clown car. Thune would be wise to keep his distance because it is clear to any rational thinker this can’t end well. Potus lacks damn near every attribute you would want in a commander in chief. Staff, appointments won’t help the helpless.
And he is a 2nd rate con and delusional wannabee dictator idiot… Is there ONE Cult45 member that will defend him?
Jaa Dee-
You sound like the “faux intellectual fool”. You lack the critical thinking necessary to see the truth. The reason there were so many fillabusters over Obama appointments was because many of appointments were so radically left, especially the court appointments, the legislature feared losing the constitution and the country. The numbers don’t lie, Trump has only 55 nominees confirmed to Obamas 200 at the same point in office and only 3 cabinet confirmations to 10 with Obama. Also half of Trumps appointments have been filibustered. There has been much more obstruction towards this administratation than the last. You need to get away from hypocritical thinking. Look at Obama’s $400K Wall Street speech, what happened to his anti-wall street rhetoric. Bernie is even condemning him for these actions but yet Bernie isn’t afraid to concoct some fraudulent money transactions. Your progressive thinking is ruining our society. Jaa you are a true snowflake!
Trump just fired the new communications director. Trump should just resign and let Pence have a shot at attempting to actually be a President. We need to get adults back into the White House whether they be Republicans or Democrats. The office and our country has lost enough prestige and respect.