US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has called for starting confirmation hearings for Joe Biden's Cabinet appointees even before the presumptive president-elect is inaugurated.
Senate hearings on the Cabinet nominees should begin immediately after the Georgia run-off elections on January 5, allowing for confirmations to be completed on Biden's January 20 inauguration day and soon thereafter, Schumer said Monday on Capitol Hill. He argued Senate committees began hearings on Cabinet nominees for past presidents-elect, including Barack Obama and Donald Trump, in early January, and the Covid-19 pandemic adds to the urgency to help Biden's administration hit the ground running.
BREAKING: Sen. Schumer says Senate should begin confirmation hearings for Biden's Cabinet BEFORE inauguration:
"In the midst of this once-in-a-century crisis, it's imperative the next administration can count on the Senate to confirm its cabinet without delay" pic.twitter.com/ZcFJXbwKSa
“In the midst of this once-in-a-century crisis, it's imperative the next administration can count on the Senate to confirm its Cabinet without delay,” Schumer said.
However, Schumer overlooked the fact that this year's presidential election is still unsettled, with Trump mounting legal challenges of Biden's media-declared victory based on allegations of fraud.
The senator said Trump's early nominees were either unqualified, plagued by ethical complaints and conflicts of interest – or all three. “At the time, Republicans in the Senate lined up to confirm President Trump's appointments, arguing that a president deserves his Cabinet and broad deference on his nominees,” Schumer said. “I would hope the same deference will be extended to President-elect Biden's nominees, especially considering the obvious gulf in quality, experience, ethics.”
The Senate confirmed just two of Trump's Cabinet secretaries on inauguration day 2017, compared with six for Obama in 2009 and seven for George W. Bush in 2001. Three weeks after taking office, only half of Trump's 14 Cabinet picks had been confirmed. Obama had 12 confirmations at that point, while Bush had all 14.
Congress was evenly divided when Bush took office, so his vice president became the tie-breaking vote on January 20. Democrats controlled the Senate in 2009, including the weeks prior to Obama's inauguration.
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November 30, 2020 at 03:47PM
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Wisconsin has confirmed Joe Biden's election victory after a recount requested by President Donald Trump netted the Democrat challenger a few more votes, setting the stage for a legal challenge that must be filed within five days.
Ann Jacobs, the Democrat chairwoman of the Wisconsin Election Commission, confirmed results of the recount on Monday after the process was completed a day earlier. The recount, which cost the Trump campaign $3 million, netted Biden 87 more votes, adding to the 20,600-vote margin that he held after the initial tally.
Media outlets declared Biden the winner of the November 3 election on November 7, but Trump has alleged that fraudulent votes were used to push the Democrat over the top in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and other swing states. Trump's Wisconsin case is based not on the claims of faulty counting, but on the allegations of illegal votes. With the recount step now completed, the window has opened for a legal challenge for Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes.
“We have found many illegal votes,” Trump said on Saturday. “Stay tuned.”
The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday. We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said the Trump campaign was challenging ballots only in the two counties with the largest black populations, which he called a “disgraceful Jim Crow strategy for mass disenfranchisement of voters.” With the recount now over, he said, “there remains no question that, as usual, Wisconsin's general election was conducted professionally and securely. There's no basis at all for any assertion that there was widespread fraud that would have affected the results.”
With the recount of the presidential election complete, there remains no question that, as usual, Wisconsin's general election was conducted professionally & securely. There’s no basis at all for any assertion that there was widespread fraud that would have affected the results.
The Wisconsin confirmation came on the same day that Arizona certified Biden as winner of its 11 electoral votes. As in Wisconsin, the formalization of results opened a five-day window for legal challenges. Biden had a margin of about 10,500 votes in Arizona. Nationwide, Biden leads Trump by 306-232 in electoral votes.
A New York district showed a 28,000-vote lead for the Republican challenger on Election Day, until a judge got involved. Ballots ‘found’ since have shown the Democrat winning by 13 votes, but now the GOP candidate leads by 12.
New York state’s 22nd congressional district, stretching from Utica to Binghamton, is considered Republican by six percentage points by the Cook Political Report. It elected Democrat Anthony Brindisi in 2018 by a margin of just 4,500 votes.
Claudia Tenney, who held the seat before that, came back as a challenger this year, and seemed ahead until a county judge blocked certification and said he would personally review all the rejected mail-in ballots.
The judge miraculously "found" enough ballots that he felt were okay and the incumbent now "leads" by 13 votes.https://t.co/miAlX6bZpD
The review put Brindisi ahead by just thirteen votes, and last week he triumphantly declared he would be “sworn in and continue to work with both parties” come January.
That declaration may have been premature, however, as on Monday officials in Herkimer County revised their tally to show a lead of 12 votes – for Tenney.
“Legal fight far from over,” declared Cook Political Report editor Dave Wasserman.
Whiplash: now it's Claudia Tenney (R) back ahead of Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D) by 12 votes in #NY22 after Herkimer Co. revises its count. Legal fight far from over. https://t.co/kxgFrbRGjI
Tenney led Brindisi by some 28,000 votes on election night, but mail-in ballots reduced that gap to just 200 or so over the following days. Then Owego County state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte issued an injunction to block certification of the results, until all the rejected ballots could be reviewed.
Brindisi’s “premature” declaration of victory was slammed by Tenney’s campaign as evidence that the Democrats had “no interest in ensuring a fair process that preserves the integrity of the election,” with the Republican candidate insisting that “all and only legal counts are counted.”
The battle in New York’s 22nd has mirrored the national dispute between President Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden, whom the media have anointed as president-elect. Despite being behind on election night, Biden surged to claim victory in the key states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia due to a flood of mail-in ballots in a handful of areas.
Mainstream media and social networks have dismissed Trump’s allegations of fraud and irregularities with the vote, but the issue is ultimately down to the courts and the state legislatures to decide.
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November 30, 2020 at 02:30PM
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