On Thursday, the 116th Congress convened with a Democratic House and Rep. Nancy Pelosi being sworn in as the new House Speaker.
With this new Congress and House Speaker, Trump will finally have people to answer to, which will undoubtedly derail some of his most nefarious plans, including that of his cabinet and judicial nominees being confirmed.
On Thursday, according to the Congressional Record printed on Friday, the Senate sent back more than 200 Trump nominations from the previous session, among them Judicial seats, after Congressional leaders, Mitch McConnel (R) and Chuck Schumer (D) couldn’t come to an agreement on a way to move them forward.
According to Senate rules, Trump will have to renominate any of the nominees who were not approved by the previous Congressional session before they can be sent back to the floor for a vote.
During the last session, Democrats pledged that when the new session convened Thursday, they would reject any end-of-the-year deals for judicial nominees, sending a big signal to Trump that they would be cracking down on his court appointments.
Democrats and outside Progressive groups have praised this decision to kick back Trump’s nominees. Marge Baker, the Executive Vice President for People for the American Way stated:
‘Each of these nominees, if confirmed, would have received a lifetime seat on the federal courts and had a profound impact on the lives of Americans long after Donald Trump leaves the White House.’
As of now, only 434 of the 707 key positions that require Senate confirmation have been confirmed, according to The Washington Post.
Even Republican senators are sending Trump’s nominations back — among those nominees is William Evanina, Trump’s choice to be the Director of National Counterintelligence and Security Center. One of Trump’s favorite Senators, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) placed a hold on Evanina’s nomination because intelligence committees have not responded to congressional inquiries about his background.
We can’t predict what will come of all of this in the coming months, but one thing is for certain — Trump has got his work cut out for him!
Featured image via Flickr/GageSkidmore
