In Final Piece to Bipartisan Deal Reforming Senate Rules, Schumer, Alexander, Lieberman, Collins Unveil Bill to Streamline Senate Confirmation Process

Press Release

In keeping with the bipartisan agreement reached earlier this year to reform the rules of the Senate, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today offered legislation to clear the backlog of stalled executive nominations by permanently exempting a range of positions from Senate confirmation.

Once enacted into law, the bill would eliminate the need for the Senate to vote on roughly 200 executive nominations and 3,000 noncontroversial Officer Corps positions. In all, the bill reduces the number of positions requiring full Senate confirmation by one-third. A separate Senate resolution, also introduced today, would establish a streamlined confirmation process for an additional 250 part-time positions.

The measures are co-sponsored by Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

Senator Schumer, the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, said: "This is the final piece to the puzzle of the bipartisan agreement on Senate rules reform. It strikes the right balance between getting important positions in the government filled quickly while preserving the Senate's "advise and consent' role. The Senate was designed to be a thoughtful and deliberative body, but the confirmation process has often become gridlocked. The American public is harmed when we are not able to get qualified people confirmed to positions in a timely manner."

Senator Alexander, the Ranking Member of the Senate Rules committee, said: "This bipartisan effort will free up the Senate so it can focus on our country's most urgent needs of reducing spending and debt, rather than on confirming hundreds of junior and part-time positions in any president's administration, like the public-relations officer of a minor department. The Senate will still continue to confirm about a thousand presidential nominees -- nearly four times as many appointees as President Kennedy had."

Senator Lieberman, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, said: "One hundred days into President Obama's Administration, only 14 percent of the Senate-confirmed positions in his Administration had been filled. After 18 months, 25 percent of these positions were still vacant. And this is not an aberration or anomaly. The timetables for putting in place a leadership team across the government has been pretty much the same each of the last three times there has been a change of occupant in the White House. We've known about this problem a long time, but failed to act. After years of talk, we finally have bipartisan support for change. I call on my fellow chairmen, ranking members, and colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with us on addressing this challenge so the next new Administration, regardless of party, can recruit the best candidates and then put them to work quickly addressing the many challenges our nation faces."

Senator Collins, the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, said: "While we must deliver on our duty to provide Advice and Consent, reforms are needed to improve the effective operation of government. We all want the most qualified people to serve the President and the nation. We should, therefore, ensure that the process is not unnecessarily burdensome and that key leadership posts do not go unfilled for long stretches of time. Most of all, we need to reform the process so that good people, whose talents and energy we need, do not become so discouraged that they give up their goal of serving the public."

The passage of the bipartisan bill would complete the agreement struck by Senate leaders earlier this year to avert a standoff on the Senate floor over potential changes to the filibuster rule. That deal included a "gentlemen's agreement" that in exchange for an open amendment process, neither party would filibuster motions to proceed on bills brought to the Senate floor. Already, by virtue of that agreement, the Senate has completed work on major bills including an FAA Reauthorization and a patent reform measure.