Thursday, January 3, 2019

Suddenly, the Senate confirms ambassadors

The Senate confirmed more than 60 nominations by voice vote on Wednesday night, the final day of the 115th Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that he and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had reached a deal on executive-branch nominations.

[...]

Trump has lamented the pace of confirmation votes for his picks, including blaming Schumer by name in a pair of tweets on Monday.

Scheduling a floor vote is up to McConnell, but any one senator can force him to eat up days of time before a final vote on a nomination.

Included in the package that cleared the Senate on Wednesday night were ambassador nominations for nearly two dozen countries, including Arthur Culvahouse Jr. to be ambassador to Australia. The post has been empty since 2016. Both retiring Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) were floated for the job but said they weren't interested.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the outgoing Senate majority whip, noted the ambassador confirmations adding, "about time."

  The Hill
What happened, Chuck? What was the deal?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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