WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House complained that Senate Democrats are obstructing President Donald Trump’s qualified nominees. Democrats countered that the administration has only itself to blame for the slow pace of filling vacancies.
The Senate has confirmed only 48 of 197 presidential nominations to agencies, and only two of 23 judicial nominees have been confirmed, the White House said.
“If the White House is looking for the cause of the delay, they need only look in the mirror,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “No administration in recent memory has been slower in sending nominees to the Senate.”
Trump has failed to submit names for hundreds of vacant jobs, and the administration has submitted incomplete paperwork or delayed ethics forms for many other nominees, Schumer said. At least seven nominees for Cabinet or senior-level positions have withdrawn, including a nominee for labor secretary and two nominees for Army secretary.
Both sides stretched the point in attacking the other party. Trump has nominated far fewer people to top-level jobs than his immediate predecessors, while those who have been nominated have waited longer to be confirmed.