The Republican-controlled Senate is to blame for only 17 Trump
confirmations so far. Trump has 1242 more needing Senate approval, or
the number may be as low as 500, it's hard to pin down. Republicans are
to blame because they are in the majority and thus in control of the
schedule. Given the Senate’s vacation schedule, officially “state work
period,” there is an almost impossibility of Trump getting all 1242
appointees confirmed in four years even if they worked round the clock.
If the figure is only 500 appointees it would take nearly two years of
round-the-clock work.
With a few exceptions, most of those needing Senate
approval must first go through committee hearings. “Most,” because in
2011, during the Obama administration, a bill was passed allowing some
appointees an expedited confirmation process. It allows them to skip the committee hearing. Are Republicans availing themselves of this tactic?
By rules, Democrats can request 30 hours of debate for any
appointee. 1242 appointees times 30 hours = 37,260 hours of debate.
There are only 8,760 hours in a year. So if my math is correct it will
take over four years to confirm all the appointees if the Democrats
request their 30 hours for each, and nearly two years for 500
appointees.
Now that brings us to the Senate Calendar, a difficult
thing to pin down with any accuracy. The most likely days a Senator
will be in his home state and thus not in session in Washington are
below.
|
March 16 – 19
|
April 8 – 23
|
April 29 – 30
|
|
May 26 – June 4
|
July 1 – 9
|
July 29 – September 3
|
|
September 21 – 24
|
October 7 – 15
|
November 10 -- 12
|
|
November 18 – 26
|
December 18 -- 29
|
Those state working periods add up to 73 days.
Add in the weekends in a year and that’s another 104 days which give
us, at best, 188 days the U.S. Senate will be in session. Hardly enough
time to do the work of the Senate.
No comments:
Post a Comment