Senate Democrats boycotted a committee vote on Thursday to advance several of President Trump’s ambassador nominees, an act of rebellion against Republican efforts to quickly confirm Trump’s picks.
The boycott required Republicans to gather all 12 of their members to reach a quorum, and the GOP members of the committee proceeded with the business meeting without any Democratic support.
The boycott on Thursday slow-walked one of Trump’s most controversial nominees, Charles Kushner for ambassador to France. Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and he received a pardon from the president clearing his convictions of tax evasion, witness tampering and other federal charges.
Four other nominees were also held up: Trump’s would-be ambassadors to the Netherlands, Ireland, the Dominican Republic and Chile.
Democrats say they are protesting Republicans, and particularly Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho), caving to pressure from the White House to speed ambassador nominees through the confirmation process.
In an April post on Truth Social, Trump criticized Senate Democrats as slow-walking the confirmation process, a signal for the Republican-controlled Senate to move forward on votes, quickly.
Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee have exercised holds on nearly all of Trump’s nominees, an act of protest against the president’s shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development, severe cuts to foreign assistance, and other measures that they view as unconstitutional and overruling Congress’s powers.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has employed a floor procedure, filing cloture, to get around Democratic holds.
It’s left few options for Democrats to push back against Republican actions they oppose.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the committee, led the boycott, which served as a shot across the bow to Risch. Traditionally, the two have shared a remarkably close working relationship, one that has often focused on finding bipartisan consensus or solutions.
“I have always believed it is important that we have Senate-confirmed ambassadors and senior officials in place to represent the United States overseas and advance our national security priorities. To that end, I have worked with Chair Risch to advance nominees on a reasonable timeline,” Shaheen said in a statement.
“But I also believe strongly that this Committee should work in a bipartisan manner. Unfortunately, today the Majority did not agree to the Committee’s long-standing rules and traditions to keep the Minority properly informed. Therefore, Democrats did not participate in today’s proceedings.”
Shaheen added, “Moving forward, it is my hope this Committee can adhere to its long-standing tradition of bipartisanship.”
Risch seemed to be initially caught off guard from Shaheen’s absence, saying during the meeting that the ranking member had another meeting, and that he would leave time in case she showed up and wanted to make an opening statement, a nod to the mutual respect they have for each other.
“We’re going to get enough people here to vote before too long,” the Idaho Republican said. When all Republicans gathered, the senator moved forward on the vote for five nominees which passed unanimously and within less than a minute.
“Let the record reflect that every Republican member is present in the room,” he continued. “Democrats have all been previously notified, have indicated they have no interest in attending this meeting. So be it.”
The Republican members of the committee then moved onto a hearing for five other ambassador nominees — which led to an awkward procedure where the nominees read their opening statements but faced no questions from the sitting GOP senators. Risch said he would leave the record open until close of business on Friday, in case any members did want to submit questions.
“We will move the president’s agenda here which includes your nominations as quickly as we can,” he added. “I apologize for the bit of chaos this morning, but there’s lots of moving parts up here… that’s just the way it is.”
A Democratic committee staffer said that there is a positive dynamic between Shaheen and Risch but that Democrats felt interference from the White House was harming the relationship and called it not appropriate or acceptable.
The Senate confirmation process is traditionally slow and cumbersome, owing to a variety of factors including the sheer number of positions for the Senate to review and the required vetting, hearings, committee votes and floor votes.
Trump has had 58 confirmed nominees, a higher number of confirmed appointments compared with President Biden at the same point in his term, and faster than Trump’s first term, according to the Political Appointee Tracker by the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post.
Updated at 1:30 p.m. EDT.
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