Updated: Schumer Statement on President Trump’s Glacial Pace in Selecting Nominees for Senate Confirmation

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer released the below statement on the Trump Administration’s slow pace in nominating Senate confirmable positions:

“If the President is looking for someone to blame on the slow pace of confirmations, he needs only to look in the mirror. There are more than 550 Senate confirmable positions considered “key” by the Partnership for Public Service. Even though it is now June, the administration has failed to select a nominee for 442 of them. Of the 102 that have been nominated, the Senate has confirmed 39 of them. The Senate took no more than a couple of days to confirm cabinet nominees, each of whom is now in office. It was the Senate’s responsibility to give a thorough vetting for such important positions, with many of the nominees having conflicts of interest and incomplete ethics agreements when they were named. President Trump ought to roll up his sleeves and get to work rather than pointing false fingers of blame.”

According to the Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, of 559 key positions requiring Senate confirmation:  

442 have no nominee

15 are awaiting nomination

102 nominations have been made; of those:

63 have been formally nominated and are awaiting confirmation

39 have been confirmed

47% of the President nominees are awaiting action in GOP-led committees

MAJOR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED THEN WITHDRAWN:

Andrew Puzder (Nominee to be Secretary of Labor) [Associated Press, 2/15/17]

Vincent Viola (Nominee to be Secretary of the Army) [Military Times, 2/3/17]

Mark Green (Nominee to be Secretary of the Army) [The Hill, 5/5/17]

Philip Bilden (Nominee to be Secretary of the Navy): [Politico, 2/26/17]

Todd Ricketts (Nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Commerce): [Chicago Sun-Times, 4/19/17]

Jim Donovan (Nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Treasury) [Politico, 5/19/17]

Anne W. Patterson (Nominee to be Undersecretary of Defense for Policy) [The Washington Post, 3/14/17]

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