Dems threaten to slow down Senate over nominee fight

Senate Democrats are threatening to gum up the Senate schedule as they aim to slow down President Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday asked for consent for committees to meet, but Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) objected.

Democrats are using the arcane rule to limit committee meetings as part of a larger strategy to slow-walk votes this week on Trump’s nominees, who they argue need more scrutiny.

Under Senate rules, if a committee wants to meet after the Senate has already been in session for two hours, or after 2 p.m., every senator must give their consent. The request is normally granted without objection.

The move on the Senate floor comes after Democrats delayed votes or boycotted votes on multiple Trump nominations earlier Tuesday.

{mosads}Republicans publicly fumed over the efforts, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) telling reporters, “It’s time they get over the fact they lost the election.”

Democrats delayed a committee vote on Sen. Jeff Sessions’s (R-Ala.) nomination to be attorney general for the second time in roughly a week. The committee is now expected to vote on Sessions on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Schumer confirmed that his objection to all hearings was related to the string of boycotts, noting Sessions hasn’t weighed in on Trump’s executive order temporarily banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. and indefinitely suspending the acceptance of Syrian refugees.

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee also boycotted votes to advance Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), and Steven Mnuchin, his Treasury Department nominee.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said Democrats are still waiting for the nominees to respond to their questions, particularly on foreclosure rates from Mnuchin.

“We decided this morning … that we were not going to participate in the meeting,” she told reporters.

Hatch, the chairman of the Finance Committee, said he and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the committee, have a “good relationship” and the committee could vote as soon as Wednesday on the nominees.

“He should have told me they were going to do this two-bit maneuver,” Hatch told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee are also signaling they could boycott a Wednesday meeting over Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

The committee fights come as the Senate is burning through 30 hours of debate time on Rex Tillerson’s nomination to lead the State Department. The Senate could cut short the required debate time, but that requires agreement from every senator.

Democrats face an uphill battle to block any of Trump’s nominees, who only need a simple majority to clear the upper chamber. Republicans hold a 52-seat majority.