[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 10257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, finally, on nominations, which were just 
mentioned in a noncamera briefing at the White House, I understand the 
White House is complaining about the pace of nominations, citing the 
obstruction of Senate Democrats. If the White House is looking for a 
cause of the delay, they only need to look in the mirror.
  No administration in recent memory has been slower in sending 
nominees to the Senate. In the last few weeks, the administration has 
sent several nominees without all of their paperwork or their ethics 
agreements complete. We can't go forward until that happens.
  The White House has sent nominees for the Cabinet on down without the 
paperwork or ethics agreements completed. That is almost unprecedented 
in its degree. Time and again, they have stalled on providing 
committees with the information they need to proceed on nominations.
  After campaigning on ``draining the swamp,'' the Trump administration 
has sent the Senate a slew of nominees with a myriad of conflicts of 
interest and ethics entanglements. It is our duty in the Senate to vet 
these nominees properly because the American people are entitled to 
ethical government. Yet the White House blames the delay on obstruction 
in the Senate.
  It is typical of the Trump administration to do something wrong and 
blame someone else for their problem.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor for my good friend and colleague 
from the great State of Florida.

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