WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) offered a resolution to pass via unanimous consent that was previously introduced by Senator Klobuchar (D-MN) and would allow for a group of nominees advanced out of the same Senate committee to be considered en bloc. As part of their continued obstruction of President Trump’s nominees, Senate Democrats blocked Sen. Cornyn’s resolution from passing. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

Before Offering the Resolution:

“This is restoring the Senate to the way it used to work not just before President Trump was reelected, but for the last couple hundred of years, where we had an orderly process to consider a President’s nominees, a committee process to vet them, and then a debate and vote on the Senate floor so that the mandate of the voters in the presidential election can be carried out by the President.”

“This is a kick in the teeth – a punch in the gut to those voters who voted for President Trump in this last election, expecting that he would bring change to Washington, D.C., but he can’t accomplish that mandate without his team.”

“If they block this resolution, they will show their true colors. They will show that this is not about deliberation. This is not about what’s in the best interest of the American people. This is not about genuine oversight.”

“This is naked partisan obstruction.”

“It will then be clear to all of us across the country that Democrat objections to changing the rules have nothing to do with preserving the institution integrity of the Senate and more to do with their crusade against President Trump and the American people, who elected him last November the 5th.” 

After Democrats Blocked Sen. Cornyn’s Resolution:

“It’s abundantly clear that we’ve exhausted all the opportunities for negotiation.”

“We’ve vetted a number of different alternatives, but it is this all-consuming, mindless, partisan objection to President Trump and his policies that are blinding our Democratic colleagues from doing what they know is right, which is having a way to debate, and with votes to give the American people a President who has a team to carry through the policies that they voted for on November 5th.”