President Trump has an amazing learning curve. During his first administration, the Washington swamp pretty much controlled things. This time–not so much.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, The Daily Caller<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n Republicans will confirm a bloc of eight dozen Trump nominees as soon as next week following an attempted blockade by Senate Democrats.<\/strong><\/p>\n Republican leadership planned Thursday to kick-off the procedural process to confirm 88 of President Donald Trump\u2019s nominees in a bloc vote, but were initially thwarted by Democratic Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, who challenged the package for violating Senate rules. When Republicans refiled the package later on Thursday, the conference included an additional nine nominees, bringing the total to nearly 100.<\/strong><\/p>\n Democrats blocked the group package because Sara Bailey \u2014 one of President Donald Trump\u2019s nominees included in the package \u2014 was not eligible to be included.<\/strong><\/p>\n When Republicans went nuclear<\/a>\u00a0in September to streamline the confirmation process over Democrats\u2019 fierce objections, the conference did not allow cabinet-level positions or judicial appointments to be confirmed in a group package.<\/strong><\/p>\n Bailey, a former Fox News contributor, has been tapped to serve as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is a senior-level position on par with a cabinet secretary.<\/strong><\/p>\n …The new package includes former Republican New York Rep. Anthony D\u2019Esposito, who has been appointed to serve as inspector general of the Department of Labor. Thirteen U.S. attorney nominees and dozens of lower-level executive branch nominees are also teed up for confirmation.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article concludes:<\/p>\n The Senate has confirmed 314 civilian nominees as of Thursday evening, according to a tally by the Senate Republican Communications Center.<\/strong><\/p>\n The 97-member bloc would bring the Senate to more than 410 civilian confirmations in the first year of Trump\u2019s second term.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThat far outstrips total confirmations by this point in President Biden\u2019s term, and in President Trump\u2019s first term as well,\u201d Thune said Thursday.<\/strong><\/p>\n Thune also said that Senate Republicans have virtually cleared the nominations backlog. Before Republicans changed Senate precedent to allow for certain nominees to be confirmed in groups, more than 150 of the president\u2019s picks were awaiting floor consideration.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Senate approved a 48-member nominations package<\/a> in September and an additional 108 of the president\u2019s picks<\/a> in a single group vote in October.<\/strong><\/p>\n Bennet celebrated<\/a> his short-lived blockade of Trump\u2019s nominees Thursday before Republicans added more individuals to the resolution.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI will not allow unqualified nominees, this White House, or the President to undermine the rule of law and our national security,\u201d the Colorado Democrat wrote in a statement posted to social media.<\/strong><\/p>\n It would be really nice if Congress would stop playing politics and do their job!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Trump has an amazing learning curve. During his first administration, the Washington swamp pretty much controlled things. This time–not so much. On Thursday, The Daily Caller reported: Republicans will confirm a bloc of eight dozen Trump nominees as soon … Continue reading