Eric Schmitt: “I rise to discuss the unprecedented obstruction by my Democrat colleagues, which brings us here today, in the activity…”

“I rise to discuss the unprecedented obstruction by my Democrat colleagues, which brings us here today, in the activity we are going to see on the floor this week and next. Article 1, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution requires that every officer in the United States receive the advice and consent of the Senate. This is a very important function. At times, it can seem tedious, I suppose, on the floor when we are voting on some of these, but this is contemplated by our Founding Fathers to be a really important part of the process of getting good, qualified people in important positions in the executive branch. With that power comes responsibility, a duty. And the Democrats have completely abandoned that duty to provide the advice and consent; instead, moving forward with complete obstruction. "Unprecedented," now that term gets thrown around a lot in this town. Every day somebody says something is unprecedented. It is not actually unprecedented. This really is unprecedented. In the almost 250 years of our country, and, of course, a little bit sooner than that when we had the first Congress--a little bit later than that when we had our first Congress, we have never seen anything like this, like not even close. The minority leader would rather burn all the norms down than do it like we have done it before. Even though that process has sort of eroded to some degree in recent years, it was never anything like this.”