Orrin Hatch: “Mr. Delrahim's appointment is just one example among many. This particular example serves an important case in point.…”

“Mr. Delrahim's appointment is just one example among many. This particular example serves an important case in point. Democrats are deliberately slow walking dozens of confirmations in a cynical effort to stall the President's agenda and hurt the President, but they are hurting the country, and they are hurting the Senate. They are hurting both sides. I don't want to see Republicans respond in kind when Democrats become the majority and when they have a President. It won't surprise anyone to hear that they are not limiting their obstruction campaign to executive branch nominees. In fact, looking at the judicial branch shows that this is part of a long-term obstruction strategy. In February 2001, just days after the previous Republican President took office, the Senate Democratic leader said they would use ``any means necessary'' to obstruct the President's nominees. A few months later Democrats huddled in Florida to plot how, as the New York Times described it, to ``change the ground rules'' of the confirmation process. And change the ground rules is exactly what they did. For two centuries, the confirmation ground rules called for reserving time-consuming rollcall votes for controversial nominees so that Senators could record their opposition. Nominations with little or no opposition were confirmed more efficiently by voice vote or unanimous consent. Democrats have literally turned the confirmation process inside out.…”