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Politico
a day ago
- Politics
- Politico
I Watched the Senate Break Down. Here's How to Fix It.
But any senator could still object and delay the process, placing a hold on a nominee and extracting concessions in exchange for lifting it. While presidents never liked horse-trading over personnel, they understood the game. During the Reagan administration, Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts lifted his eight-month hold only after surgeon general nominee C. Everett Koop promised to keep his personal religious views out of public health policy. In the 1990s, Sen. Jesse Helms of South Carolina brought the entire Foreign Relations Committee to a standstill until the Bill Clinton administration relented on an up-or-down vote on his plan to reorganize the State Department. Holds were powerful — wielded strategically — but never for routine obstruction. That balance began to unravel during the Obama years, when Republicans filibustered judicial picks to the D.C. Circuit, demanding a roll-call vote and a 60-vote threshold for confirmation. In 2013, Democrats responded by invoking the so-called 'nuclear option,' eliminating the 60-vote threshold for most executive branch and judicial nominees, thus making it easier to confirm nominees with only one party's support. In response to Democrat-orchestrated slowdowns during Trump's first term, Republicans expanded the same rule to include Supreme Court nominees and also cut debate time for most others from 30 hours to two hours to make it easier to get their own nominees through. By the end of the first Trump administration, a majority of votes taken in the Senate, 64 percent, were nominations. At the outset of Biden's term, it was clear that with the slimmest of Democratic majorities, we couldn't vote through 1,200 confirmed positions one by one. There wasn't enough floor time, not even close. We had to reawaken Washington's dormant dealmaking culture. That meant negotiating, and it started at the top. Sen. Mitch McConnell didn't support most of our agenda. But as Republican minority leader at the time, he cared deeply about protecting the Senate's prerogatives, especially when it came to Republican-designated seats on independent boards and commissions. While that norm had already started to erode during Trump's first term, we stuck to it. We put forward McConnell's picks. In return, he helped move ours. It wasn't always popular in the West Wing. Some White House colleagues bristled at the idea of naming Republicans who weren't aligned with Biden's policies. But we weren't handing out favors. We were honoring an old Senate practice to keep the confirmations moving. With an agreement in hand, we revived the art of pairing nominees: bundling a Democrat and a Republican as a negotiated package. Tying their fates together gave both sides something to gain, helping us expedite confirmations at regulators like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pairing was the easy part. The trickier work was getting through the individual holds that came from all corners of the Senate. Some members were repeat players. Sometimes they had real concerns. Often, they didn't. Our job was to find out what they wanted anyway.
New York Times
31-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Bipartisan Pair of Senators Seeks $54.6 Billion In New Aid For Ukraine
A bipartisan pair of senators on Thursday introduced legislation to provide $54.6 billion in aid to Ukraine over the next two years as Russia intensifies its attacks and U.S.-brokered peace negotiations have so far failed. The measure by Senators Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, includes billions of dollars for direct weapons assistance, as well as money to replenish American stockpiles. It faces long odds in Congress given previous Republican opposition to sending more aid to Ukraine, and in light of President Trump's aggressive campaign to slash spending, particularly foreign assistance. But its release comes as Mr. Trump has significantly shifted his stance on helping Kyiv, and as some Republicans have followed suit, signaling support for various efforts to bolster Ukraine's defenses against Russian aggression. And its backers appear to have written it with an eye toward controlling the cost to American taxpayers. Under their plan, as much as a third of the assistance would be financed by revenues from seized Russian assets and weapons sales to European allies that have recently approved such transactions. The bill would also codify the minerals deal recently struck between the United States and Ukraine, for which there has been outspoken bipartisan backing, allowing revenue generated by the country's natural resources to be used to reimburse the United States for arming Kyiv. 'There is continued bipartisan resolve to sustain Ukraine's valiant fight for freedom by helping Ukraine obtain the air defense needed to protect its civilian population centers, including schools and hospitals, from Russia's relentless drone and missile attacks,' Ms. Shaheen said in a statement. U.S. emergency aid to Ukraine since 2022, in billions Source: Congressional Research Service By Ani Matevosian Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Shaheen Backs Trump U.N. Pick After Deal to Release Frozen Foreign Aid Funds
After Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, cast the tiebreaking vote on Thursday to advance President Trump's nominee for American ambassador to the United Nations to the floor, she cited an unusual reason. Part of her decision to vote Michael Waltz's nomination out of the panel, she said, was that he 'represents a moderating force with a distinguished record of military service and an extensive background in national security policymaking.' At a time when top national security officials in Mr. Trump's administration have sought to decrease the United States' footprint around the world, Ms. Shaheen said, Mr. Waltz 'did not represent himself to me as someone who wants to retreat from the world — and this is a quality I value in nominees.' But Ms. Shaheen, who has broken with her party to back other Trump administration nominees in the past, also gave another justification for supporting Mr. Waltz. In exchange for her vote, she said she had won an assurance from officials that the administration would release $75 million it had frozen for the World Food Program and the International Organization on Migration. That includes $50 million for disaster relief in Haiti, including 'lifesaving food for 250,000 individuals at risk of extreme/acute malnutrition' as well as public health programs, according to her office. The other $25 million was for food distribution efforts in Nigeria. The deal, reported earlier by Axios, was remarkable not so much because of how open Ms. Shaheen was about disclosing it, but because she had to bother making it in the first place. The money, after all, had already been approved by Congress and signed into law. But given the Trump administration's aggressive moves to unilaterally freeze federal spending in defiance of Congress, particularly foreign aid, a side deal was needed to ensure that the funding would be spent. 'Saving lives through American assistance globally is not only the right thing to do, but it advances our national security and economic interests around the world,' Ms. Shaheen said on Thursday. Ms. Shaheen cast the tiebreaking vote after Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, voted against advancing Mr. Waltz's nomination out of committee. He said he had done so because the former congressman voted in 2020 to constrain Mr. Trump's ability to remove troops from Afghanistan.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thune keeps door open to nixing August recess after Trump request
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on Monday that he is open to President Trump's call to cancel the August recess as part of the GOP's push to quickly confirm his nominees. Thune told reporters he was considering the move, alleging Democrats broke precedent by not allowing the expeditious confirmation of any of Trump's nominees. 'We're thinking about it. We want to get as many [nominations] through the pipeline as we can,' Thune said at the Capitol, adding that it would be 'nice to have' Democrats 'act more according to historical precedents when it comes to this.' 'Trump's the first president in history that hasn't had a [nomination] adopted by this point in his presidency either by unanimous consent or voice. Not a single one,' Thune continued. 'Trying to get his team in place is something that we're very committed to and we're going to be looking at all the options in the next few weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can.' In addition to nominations, the South Dakota Republican said government funding and the annual National Defense Authorization Act would top the to-do list if members are kept in town. Thune also said he and Trump have discussed the idea. Trump on Saturday urged the GOP leader to keep senators in Washington. 'Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'We need them badly!!!' Republicans have scores of nominees waiting to get the green light for confirmation, including via the Foreign Relations Committee. GOP leaders have also started to move judicial nominees to the floor. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Thune keeps door open to nixing August recess after Trump request
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on Monday that he is open to President Trump's call to cancel the August recess as part of the GOP's push to quickly confirm his nominees. Thune told reporters that he was considering the move, alleging Democrats broke precedent by not allowing the expeditious confirmation of any of Trump's nominees. 'We're thinking about it. We want to get as many [nominations] through the pipeline as we can,' Thune said at the Capitol, adding that it would be 'nice to have' Democrats 'act more according to historical precedents when it comes to this.' 'Trump's the first president in history that hasn't had a [nomination] adopted by this point in his presidency either by unanimous consent or voice. Not a single one,' Thune continued. 'Trying to get his team in place is something that we're very committed to and we're going to be looking at all the options in the next few weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can.' In addition to nominations, the South Dakota Republican said government funding and the annual National Defense Authorization Act would top the to-do list if members are kept in town. Thune also said he and Trump have discussed the idea. Trump on Saturday urged the GOP leader to keep senators in Washington. 'Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'We need them badly!!!' Republicans have scores of nominees waiting to get the green light for confirmation, including via the Foreign Relations Committee. GOP leaders have also started to move judicial nominees to the floor.
