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It’s good that Schumer isn’t giving in to this bullshit. It wouldn’t be binding if Schumer just said “sure, Mitch, whatever,” but it would give the less resolute members of the Democratic conference—Joe Manchin, Chris Coons, and Dianne Feinstein—an excuse to stray from the majority. That would make it that much harder for Schumer to nuke the legislative filibuster when he needs to, and this latest from McConnell tells everyone that he’s going to need to—the Republicans will do everything in their power to obstruct Biden’s agenda just as they did President Barack Obama’s. The good news, at least, is they can’t do it on nominations.
However, McConnell has already delayed getting key Cabinet officials confirmed and in place. When he recessed the Senate until this week, it meant that those Cabinet officials couldn’t go through the committee process to be ready on Day One. So right now the nation’s defense is dependent upon those acting career officials in the Pentagon the Biden team could trust. The delay in agreement between Schumer and McConnell on the organizing resolution for sharing committee power could also keep more nominees in limbo because committees won’t be able to formally process them until the chairs and their staffs are in place.
Some nominees could move forward with unanimous consent—all 100 senators agreeing to bring them to the floor. But already insurrectionist Sen. Josh Hawley has announced that he’s objecting to a critical nominee, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Biden’s pick for Homeland Security secretary. That’s going to hamper Biden on everything from his immigration reforms to the coronavirus response, forcing procedural delays.
McConnell is giving every indication of dragging this out as long as he can, his monkey wrench in Biden’s first 100-day plan. Because that’s who he is, nation in multiple crises notwithstanding.
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