The White House is losing patience with the Senate's backlog of nominees, sparking talk about enacting changes in the rules to speed up consideration of President Donald Trump's judicial and executive branch, The Hill reported on Sunday.
The Trump administration is putting pressure on Senate Republicans to fight back against opposition efforts to delay its agenda, especially if GOP discussions with Democrats about bipartisan changes to Senate rules flounders.
Vice President Mike Pence held a private meeting with the Senate GOP Conference this past week on the subject to stress its importance and demonstrate the urgency of the move.
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short accused Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of "weaponizing" the rules, noting at a White House press briefing that Democrats have required Republicans to hold 79 cloture votes on nominees during Trump's first 14 months in office, about five times the number of the last four administrations combined.
A cloture vote, which requires 60 votes to pass, ends dilatory action on a bill or nominee and is often used to end filibusters.
Senate rules also mandate 30 hours to pass on the floor once the Senate votes to end dilatory debate on a nominee, which enables the minority party to eat up the calendar by refusing to yield back time.
Short told reporters that Trump would begin to make his case to the American people in response to what he called "historic obstruction."
A spokesman for Schumer blamed the administration for the backlog, saying, "This administration has been historically slow in submitting nominations and has withdrawn more nominees in the first year than any of the past four administrations," according to The Hill.
Democrats also pointed out that there are 145 nominees awaiting action from Republican-controlled committees.
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