Numbers tell a compelling story that underscore the historic obstruction of Senate Democrats and their assault on President Donald Trump's nominations.
During the president's press conference Monday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the pair expressed frustration on the slow-foot process Democrats have used to stall the nomination process of federal judges.
"The Democrats are holding them up beyond anything, beyond comprehension," Trump said in the Rose Garden. "Frankly, they have terrible, terrible policy. And perhaps they're not even good politicians, but they are good at obstruction."
To date, thanks to the stonewalling of Democrats, Trump has had just 172 of his 413 nominations confirmed in the Senate, or 42 percent, according to analysis from the Partnership for Public Service.
By comparison, President Barack Obama (2009) had 67 percent of his 534 nominations confirmed, and President George W. Bush (2001) had 60 percent of his 624 nominations confirmed.
McConnell railed at the "blue-slip" process being abused by Democrats when it comes to holding up federal judges from their home state.
"My view is that a blue slip on a circuit judge is simply a notification of how you are going to vote," McConnell said. "To conclude otherwise would have left us in the following position at the beginning of this Senate: 48 Democratic senators would have been able to blackball 62 percent of the circuit judge nominees. That's simply not a tenable place to land in a Senate that now deals with judges with a simple majority. "
The average time to confirm Trump's nominations has been 61 days; Bush 43's nominations were taking an average of 32 days, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
Trump has 218 nominations awaiting confirmation, including 21 pending in the Department of Defense, 42 in the Department of Justice, and 41 in the Department of State.
Four of the president's nominees for the DOD have been waiting for full Senate action since July.