Schumer Sends GOP Its Own 2009 Letter Promising Tough Standards For Presidential Nominees

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:47 pm

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has three words for Republicans as they prepare to fast-track the confirmation process for Donald Trump’s nominees: Not so fast.

On Monday, Schumer trolled the GOP by sending Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell the same letter McConnell sent then-Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2009 as President Obama’s nominees were going through the confirmation process.

Letter:

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The letter, which Schumer sent to McConnell with only a few revisions, states that the Senate must “conduct the appropriate review of these nominations, consistent with the long standing and best practices of committees, regardless of which political party is in the majority.”

It lists a series of standards each nominee must meet in order to be confirmed.

These standards are particularly important given the fact that many of Trump’s picks haven’t provided the proper ethics disclosures. As the Huffington Post noted today, “four of the nine Trump nominees scheduled for hearings this week still haven’t disclosed key financial information to the Office of Government Ethics” and “two of them … are billionaires who have never worked in government.”

The fact that the president-elect’s nominees aren’t being transparent with Congress is just the latest evidence that, despite Trump’s phony promise to “drain the swamp,” it will likely be murkier than ever over the next four years.

Republicans may not like it, but they’re about to get a taste of their own medicine.

Now, it’s more imperative than ever that Democrats hold the president-elect’s picks accountable and don’t allow the GOP to fast-track any of them.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.