Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Slamming Senate Republicans’ “Obey And Confirm” Approach to Confirming Trump’s Dangerous And Unqualified Nominees

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor denouncing Senate Republicans’ willingness to blindly confirm Donald Trump’s dangerously unqualified nominees, an approach that has already proven to have disastrous consequences. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

This week, Senate Republicans are moving forward on a new nominee package that is chock full of horribly unqualified, shockingly radical nominees.

All year long, Senate Republicans have bent the knee to Donald Trump and turned the Senate’s duty of “advice and consent” into “obey and confirm.” And this package of nominees is no different.

By moving these nominees in one package Republicans in the Senate are trying to hide how bad they are from the American people. They’d be embarrassed to have a debate, even of two hours. They’d be embarrassed to have a vote. These nominees are so bad. We all know that Donald Trump and the way he nominates people often are perverse. If someone has broken the law, if someone has done a bad thing, he almost wants to nominate them. And the folks around here are going along.

Let me give a few quick examples.

Thomas Bell to be Inspector General of HHS—who is supposed to be looking at fraud and waste and abuse. Well, Mr. Bell is a well-documented Trump loyalist and anti-abortion extremist who has a history of committing repeated fraud, manufacturing fake documents, and misusing authorized funds. This is who Republicans want to confirm as the HHS watchdog? Give us a break. Give America a break.

And by the way, these nominees are going to come back and embarrass Trump—just like we warned about with Secretary Hegseth. You pick a Fox New commentator to run the most complicated, life and death department in our country, he’ll embarrass you, we said. Or worse. And that’s just what’s happening. It’s worse.

What about James Percival to be General Counsel at DHS? He is another Trump loyalist who has been a key figure pushing the administration to defy court orders in regards to deportation actions.

And then there’s Jeffrey Hall to be an Assistant Administrator at the EPA. How much experience does Mr. Hall have for this position? Zero. And in his time acting in the role, the EPA dismissed a complaint against a Trump donor group that alleged pesticides were sprayed by guards on detainees at an ICE facility.

I could go on and on and on. So many of these nominees are awful. This package is chock full of unqualified, horrible nominees.

But the bottom line is this: Democrats want individual votes on these nominees. We want time to debate them on the floor. And we want the American people to see for themselves who Donald Trump and Republicans are trying to appoint to serious positions of power.

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