“This is significant progress in filling critical government positions. It took relentless procedural battles to accomplish this. It included full days and long nights. Why? Because Democrats are waging a coordinated campaign of obstruction.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, spoke on the Senate Floor today to highlight how Senate Republicans have confirmed over 100 of President Trump’s nominees, despite continued obstruction from Senate Democrats.
Senator Barrasso also spoke about his support for Emil Bove, President Donald J. Trump’s nominee for U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit.
Click HERE to watch Senator Barrasso’s remarks.
Sen. Barrasso’s remarks as delivered:
“I come to the Floor today to mark an important milestone in the new administration. Senate Republicans have now confirmed more than 100 nominees in President Trump’s second term. This is significant progress in filling critical government positions. It took relentless procedural battles to accomplish this. It included full days and long nights. Why? Because Democrats are waging a coordinated campaign of obstruction.
“Under the Constitution, the Senate is meant to provide ‘advice and consent.’ We do it on presidential nominations, do it on a number of things. Specifically with regard to nominations, this means an honest evaluation of qualifications and it means a vote in the United States Senate. For more than six months, Senate Democrats have turned advice and consent into automatic opposition. It doesn’t just delay President Trump. It damages the country.
“Democrats have filibustered all but one of President Trump’s nominees, and that was the very first nominee – Marco Rubio to be Secretary of State. He was confirmed on Day One of this administration. Since then, it has been a wall of obstruction. Democrats filibustered positions requiring confirmation that have never before had a roll call vote in the United States Senate. They have gone by unanimous consent. Democrats filibustered the Chief of Protocol for the Department of State – the Chief of Protocol. Democrats filibustered the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security. Democrats filibustered the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Today, 138 nominees who have already been approved by a full vote in Senate Committees are caught in Senate Floor purgatory. Democrats in the Senate seem to have a new litmus test. If President Trump nominates you, Democrats are against you. Period. End of story.
“Yesterday, the Senate confirmed four nominees. The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. The Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Crimes. A District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. And the Assistant Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency. All qualified. All vetted. All experienced. Each and every one filibustered. The Democrats forced the Senate to burn every minute of available time before the Senate was permitted to vote. When Democrats delay nominations and nominees, people specifically charged to fight drug trafficking, to protect the environment, and to track terrorists, it delays justice. It makes our nation weaker and less safe. It tells Americans that Democrats care more about politics than they do problem solving.
“Now, Democrats are targeting President Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. We just heard the Senate Minority Leader talk about that nominee. By any objective measure, Mr. Bove is qualified. Georgetown Law. Top 5 percent of his class. A decorated former prosecutor. Someone who took on and took down violent criminals, drug traffickers, and terrorists. But because he worked for President Trump, he is now a target – a target of a politically-motivated hit job. During his confirmation, he said this under oath: ‘I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order.’ The facts support his testimony.
“Today, Senator Schumer came to the Floor and said of Mr. Bove, he was ‘as extreme as anyone we’ve considered in this chamber.’ Let me recall for the body some of the people that were nominated to the Biden administration, supported by Chuck Schumer when he takes an attack on such a qualified nominee as we’re debating and discussing and voting on today.
“Democrats confirmed as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts someone who released a list of charges that she would refuse to prosecute if she was confirmed. She said she would refuse to prosecute shoplifting, drug possession with intent to distribute. Okay with the Democrats – they want her confirmed as a U.S. Attorney, and they did that, from Massachusetts. They also confirmed, in 2021 under Joe Biden, an Assistant Attorney General who supported efforts to ‘defund the police’. And then, they supported and nominated and confirmed a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, a judge who worked for a left-wing organization that – listen to this, Democrats – ‘repeatedly called for a complete reimagining of policing in this country.’ That’s what they’re for. That’s who they are. That’s the Democrats today.
“The kicker of all of this is that Democrats’ radical nominee for the Third Circuit in 2024 – this same position – was opposed by more than twenty police groups. Twenty police groups. Served on the board of advisors of a group that called cop killers ‘freedom fighters.’ The Democrats came to support a nominee by the President, then Joe Biden, who was a member of a board of advisors for a group that called cop killers ‘freedom fighters’ and advocated for their release. Nevertheless, Democrats strongly supported the confirmation. They relented only after President Trump won the election.
“Republicans are committed to continuing to confirm President Trump’s nominees. We are working hard to get America back on track.”
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