The White House is slamming Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his horde of Senate Democrats for obstructing most of Trump’s nominations at this point:
FOX NEWS – The White House is accusing Senate Democrats of “needless obstruction” of President Trump’s nominees to numerous government positions, complaining that former President Barack Obama had far more nominees confirmed at this point of his presidency.
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short argued during Monday’s press briefing that the stalled nominations were jeopardizing national security and accused Democrats of playing to its “radical left-wing base.”
“In an effort to prevent President Trump from following through on the policies for which the American people voted, Senate Democrats are putting his nominations through time-consuming parliamentary procedures not seen by the previous administration,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House released figures Monday showing the Senate has confirmed less than a quarter of President Trump’s 216 nominations while the Senate confirmed 69 percent of Obama’s 454 nominations before the August recess his first year in office.
According the press secretary’s office, the Senate has confirmed 48 of Trump’s 197 agency nominations. The White House said only two of Trump’s 23 judicial nominations have been confirmed.
The White House statement said this pace “threatens key aspects of the government, including national security, by leaving positions vacant.” Positions still awaiting confirmation votes include deputy secretary of defense, principal deputy under the secretary of defense and assistant secretary of defense, the White House said.
The article also suggests the Trump White House has moved slow in picking nominees, but honestly I don’t think that’s nearly as important as the Senate Dems continuously obstructing the nominees Trump has already sent.
If these numbers are accurate, there are more than 150 nominations that need to be confirmed by the Senate. So in my humble opinion, the White House is correct here and the Senate Dems don’t have a right to complain about the speed at which the Trump admin is picking nominees with so many still waiting to be confirmed.
And just to reiterate what the article said, Senate Dems confirmed almost 70 percent of Obama’s nominations back in 2009 at this point in the year. That’s well over 300 nominees. But they’ve only confirmed around 50 for Trump in the same time frame? C’mon.