-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is Thursday afternoon here in the U.S. Senate, and I am going to come down and talk about the Alaskan of the Week. It is the best speech of the week, I think--the pages would agree; they are all nodding--because it talks about someone who is really amazing. This week is a really impressive story, I will tell you.
Normally, the ``Alaskan of the Week'' is kind of the wrapup bell, signal, for the Senate, for the press. They kind of know the week is coming to an end. But not today. We are still working before the summer August work period to try to get some of President Trump's nominees confirmed--it is a huge part of the Senate's duties--and we are trying to get cooperation from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
Now, why am I talking about this? Because I know the ``Alaskan of the Week'' speech--you know, millions of Americans tune in. It is like must-see TV when they are all watching. The press watches. So I just want to explain a little bit of what is going on here because we have this unprecedented blockade by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer-- that is not good for the Senate as an institution, and by the way, all the Democrats know that; it is not good for the country--to getting the President--his people--confirmed to help run the government.
It has never been done before. What do I mean? The way the Senate works--it is a really important chart here. The way the Senate works is, when we go to confirm nominees--you know, Cabinet officials and very important nominees; some who are controversial, some who aren't--a lot of times, the Senate moves, because there are so many of them, with a package of nominees. We usually take a big package, negotiate it, and then they come to the floor as a package agreed to by leadership, and we do what is called a unanimous consent request. We don't vote on each one. It might be a package of 100. And the majority leader will say: I move by unanimous consent to confirm these hundred nominees.
This happens all the time. This has been happening for hundreds of years in American history. Guess who stopped that tradition? The current Senate minority leader, Senator Schumer of New York.
Now, why would he do that? Look at these numbers. In George H.W. Bush--during his first term, 98 percent of the people confirmed for that administration--Democrat, Republican--were done by this unanimous consent model. We package them up, we bring them to the floor, we do a unanimous consent, and they are all passed. Nobody objects. This is the way to do it.
So, remember, this is cooperation. You need Democrats and Republicans in this great institution, the U.S. Senate, to do this to help the government work.
OK. President Clinton, same thing. Republicans did unanimous consent requests on 98 percent of the people in the Clinton administration-- civilians, not the generals and admirals.
George W. Bush got a little smaller--still 90 percent. So the Democrats worked with George W. Bush to confirm all his nominees.
Obama. Republicans worked with President Obama to confirm 90 percent through unanimous consent--big packages of nominees to get confirmed so the government can work.
President Trump's first term was a lot less. So all of a sudden, the Democrats are saying ``We are not going to cooperate as much during Trump 1,'' but still 65 percent of the nominees were packaged up, brought to the floor, unanimous consent. Let's move them. Did that. OK. You know, so there was a little bit of like, hey, you didn't help President Trump too much.
So with President Biden, it was less, but it was still way more than half--almost 60 percent. President Biden's guys would come here. ``Hey, we want to get all these guys confirmed.'' We Republicans said ``All right. Let's put them in a package. All right. We will confirm a hundred here, a hundred there.'' Almost 60 percent of all Biden nominees were confirmed in that way--unanimous consent, quickly.
A lot of times, before the August work period, we will get big packages done.
So that is American history.
Look at the number for President Trump's second term. Can you see that? I want the American people to see that. Zero. Zero. Zero.
Like what the heck is Senator Schumer doing?
By the way, a lot of Democrat Senators who I talk to--I have good friends over there--they are embarrassed by that number, by the way. They are embarrassed by that number. Zero percent.
Now, why do you think Senator Schumer is doing that? Because he cares about the Senate as an institution? Nope. Because he wants to help us run the government? President Trump won fair and square; he needs to get his people into office to run our great government? Nope. Certainly don't want to do that. We all know this.
I am going to reveal a little secret here in the Senate. This is fully driven by the far-left wing of the Democratic Party, OK? I mean, we are talking the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas wing. We are talking the defund-the-police wing. We are talking the open border wing. I mean, the far-left crazies of the Democratic Party are driving the Senate minority leader to go to zero, because they are telling him: You have got to resist the Trump administration. So he is listening to them.
Look at that, America. Zero percent. It has never happened in U.S. history. I hope our friends in the media write about it. It is unprecedented. And the vast majority of Democratic Senators who I have talked to are embarrassed by that number.
So hopefully we are going to get some kind of an agreement. We will see. But maybe not. We will stay here. Look, I am ready to stay here as long as it takes, because this is ridiculous. And one guy is blocking it--the minority leader of the U.S. Senate--because he is kowtowing to the far left, left, left crazy wing of the Democratic Party to resist. And we think that is good for America right there? It is embarrassing. If you are a Senate Democrat, that is embarrassing.
So I am going to switch gears to a much better topic.
Like I said, normally this would be the last speech of the week, but it is not because we are still here. We will keep plugging away. We are going to vote to confirm a lot more of President Trump's Cabinet. We have to do it one at a time--one at a time--because there is no cooperation, as there has been throughout American history. So we will do it the hard way.
I applaud Majority Leader John Thune for saying: Hey, let's try. We are still trying to get an agreement. Maybe they will move this number up a little bit. But that is an embarrassment. Every Senator knows it, and every Senator here knows why it is zero. Not guarding the institution. Not trying to help the American people run their government. It is nervousness from some of the Democrat leaders about their far-left, extreme, open border, defund the police--you know, the whackos are driving it. So we will keep plugging along.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source