05.01.19

Senate Continues to Confirm Well-Qualified Nominees

‘This week the Senate is continuing to make significant progress in our consideration of the president’s nominees. By the end of this week, three more executive branch positions and five district court vacancies will have been filled with thoroughly qualified individuals. Already, these uncontroversial nominees have earned overwhelming bipartisan support.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the need to confirm more of the president’s well-qualified nominees:  

“This week the Senate is continuing to make significant progress in our consideration of the president’s nominees. By the end of this week, three more executive branch positions and five district court vacancies will have been filled with thoroughly qualified individuals.

“Already, these uncontroversial nominees have earned overwhelming bipartisan support. Yesterday, more than two thirds of the Senate voted to confirm William Cooper to serve as General Counsel for the Department of Energy. Mr. Cooper’s expertise in the energy policy was evident to Chairman Murkowski and our colleagues in committee, who voted by voice to report his nomination to the full Senate. And now, we’ve put a sharp lawyer on the job at DOE.

“Later in the day, we confirmed two more well-qualified executive branch nominees, to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, by even wider margins. Each received bipartisan support in committee, so again I’m glad to see a similar degree of swift, reasonable consideration here on the floor.

“And today, the Senate will turn to a slate of judicial nominees with their own impressive trail of credentials -- things like prestigious clerkships and strong reviews from the American Bar Association. Most importantly, all have demonstrated their commitment to the rule of law. Celebrating small wins for comity in the personnel business is, of course, only necessary in the wake of years of unprecedented partisan obstruction. But I’ll readily express my hope that in the coming days and weeks, we can continue to work toward clearing the executive calendar backlog and confirming more well-qualified nominees.”

Related Issues: Restoring the Senate, Judicial Nominations, Nominations, Senate Democrats