“President Obama got nearly four confirmations for every one of President Trump’s over the same period of time. The difference is stark, and the reason is simple. Democrats have been putting up roadblocks one after another on even the most non-controversial of nominees.”

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor on how Senate Democrats have engaged in a historic effort to slow down the confirmation of President Trump’s nominees. 

“Now when you look at these 34 people, that we had to go ahead and file cloture on, half of them ended up getting 60 or more votes for their confirmation.

“So they had support by Democrats as well as the Republicans.

“One nominee, who we had to file cloture on and go all the way through the process, even got a unanimous confirmation vote, roll call vote in the United States Senate – 100 to nothing.

“Democrats blocked him as long as they could – but yet not a single Democrat stood to vote against him when his name was called for a roll call vote.

“Why are Democrats blocking votes on people who they then intend to support, and do support with their votes? They’re just trying to slow things down.

“The Democratic leader actually admitted that that was his plan. That was during the debate over confirming the number two person at the Pentagon.

“It’s someone who the Senate eventually confirmed with 92 votes in his favor.

“Republicans wanted to speed up the process a little, Senator Schumer objected.

“Did he have a problem with the nominee’s qualifications? No.

“The Democratic leader said on the floor, ‘We’d be happy to consider the nominee in regular order, and maybe once things change a little bit in health care we can.’

“It had nothing to do with the person who was nominated. It had nothing to do with anything according to Senator Schumer, other than the fact that we were discussing health care in this country.

“It was all because Democrats were trying to stall the debate over health care reform.

“Republicans are trying to keep the federal government functioning by filling these jobs that have been empty.

“Health care is a very separate thing. Both of these are important.

“The only thing that they have in common is that Democrats have been playing politics with both of them. This is not normal – and it is not acceptable.

“The Democrats’ blockade against President Trump’s nominees has caused what I believe has been a dangerous backlog.

“We still have 84 people who have been nominated by the president for positions in the government, 84, who have cleared the committees. And are now just waiting for a vote on the Senate floor, slowed down by Democrat obstruction.

“Democrats are trying their best to drag this out, it seems to be, as long as they possibly can.

“The Senate rules say that means up to 30 hours of debate once we vote to move forward on a nomination. Maybe that’s too long.

“Senator Ron Johnson had an op-ed in the Washington Post over the weekend, with a headline ‘Let’s break this Senate logjam.’

“He suggests that we cut the time back from 30 hours of debate to two hours of debate. That would certainly speed things up – and maybe that’s a step we’re going to have to take if this level of obstruction continues.

“Whatever we do, we cannot allow this logjam to continue. These are important jobs.

“The American people deserve to have someone doing their work.

“Last Friday after the health care vote, Senator Schumer called for us to work together.

“He said: ‘There are some things we can do rather quickly, including moving a whole lot of nominations.’

“I’m going to hold the Democratic leader to his word on this. Let him show that he meant what he said.

“We should be able to clear the decks of these 84 nominees, who have come through the Senate committees, who have been approved by the committees, and are waiting here to be confirmed. We should do it by unanimous consent.

“If Democrats object to one or two of them, let’s have a roll call vote so we can get it on the record.

“It’s time to stop this mindless obstruction that serves no purpose except to delay.”

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