Senate Republicans Are Making A Massive Mistake That Will Come Back To Haunt Them

Republicans are weakening the Senate's advice and consent role on presidential nominations by cooking up a plan to bulk-pass Trump's nominees, and this scheme will come back to haunt them.

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Donald Trump has been raging at Senate Republicans for months because Senate Democrats are using their full power in the Senate to slow down the confirmation process for Trump’s nominees.

Trump has been trying since he returned to the White House to turn Congress into a rubber stamp for his agenda.

The current president’s desire to create an imperial presidency that would violate the constitutional system of checks and balances is one of the driving forces of his presidency.

From a political science perspective, and historically speaking, the legislative branch has consistently resisted any attempt by the executive branch to weaken checks, such as the advice and consent role in the Senate. Until now.

Axios reported on Wednesday:

Senators emerged from a conference-wide discussion this afternoon united on moving forward with en bloc confirmation votes for non-Cabinet nominees, while discussions continue about judiciary positions.

En bloc allows batches of nominees to be voted on at the same time.

….

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters today there would be no numerical limit in the GOP proposal.

This is similar to a plan that Sen. Amy Klobuchar proposed in 2023 when Democrats had control of the Senate, but Klobuchar’s plan would have limited the group to 10 nominees. Klobuchar’s plan was rejected.

The problem with en bloc voting for nominees is that it allows the bundling of bad and good nominees together in a single up or down vote, which destroys the power of the Senate to vote down bad nominees.

What Senate Republicans are proposing is a rubber stamp, not advice and consent.

Democrats can’t block any rules change because only a majority is required to change the rules of the Senate.

If Republicans go through with this plan to please Trump, as we will discuss below, it will come back to bite them as soon as Democrats take back the majority.

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