WASHINGTON – In a speech to the Senate, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called out Senate Democrats for needlessly delaying Senate confirmation of President Trump’s nominees. In an effort to speed up this process, Wicker is urging the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to keep the Senate in session on weekends and overnight.

Key excerpts of Wicker’s speech include:

“This is a matter of concern to all Americans. When new presidents are elected, they have always been given an opportunity to put their team in place in short order. Now regrettably, this has not been allowed to happen for this new president in this Congress.”

“Here are the facts: Now in office nine months, President Trump has had only 182 of his nominees confirmed.  That is an unacceptable, unprecedented 39 percent – a grossly low statistic by historical standards.  At this point in President Obama’s Administration, 65 percent of his nominees had been confirmed. At this point in George W. Bush’s Administration, 53 percent had been confirmed. Under Bill Clinton, 76 percent had been confirmed, and under President George H.W. Bush, 70 percent.  And yet, because of delaying tactics by our colleagues across the aisle, this President, who needs a team in place, only has 39 percent of his nominees in office. This is inconvenient to the Administration, but it is injurious to the American people.”

“I am among those calling on the Majority Leader, once again, to adopt an aggressive schedule that includes working all night, working weekends, and canceling some breaks. We need to break this logjam. The American people spoke in November, and through our democratic process, they elected Donald Trump as President of the United States. He deserves the same consideration from minority members of the current Senate that previous presidents – Democrat and Republican – got from minority members of the Senate.”

“Free the process up, eliminate the distortion of the rules, let’s have a more aggressive schedule, and let’s once again break this logjam.”

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