Donald Trump lags behind past Presidents in terms of having his nominees confirmed.
That’s because Democrats are engaged in unprecedented obstruction.
Donald Trump has nominated Patrick Shanahan to be the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
The current Deputy has left office and this critical post at the Pentagon must be filled.
But not according to Chuck Schumer.
He’s holding up a vote on Shanahan because he is throwing a temper tantrum about the Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare.
The Washington Examiner reports:
“Sen. John McCain tried twice Thursday to get a floor vote set for President Trump’s pick to be deputy defense secretary but was blocked each time by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“Tomorrow, the current deputy secretary of defense, Bob Work, will leave his office — tomorrow. There simply is no more time to delay in moving the nomination of Patrick Shanahan,” McCain said on the Senate floor.
The Arizona Republican first proposed an immediate consent vote on Shanahan, a Boeing executive who could fill the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian post, and when Schumer objected he proposed setting a vote Monday night.
Schumer again objected, quashing the attempt to fast-track the nominee vote and increasing the temperature of an already heated political fight in the chamber over which party is responsible for the slow pace of approving the president’s nominees.
“We’d be happy to consider the nominee in regular order and maybe once things change a little bit in healthcare we can, with the consent of my friends on this side of the aisle, move a lot of things quickly,” Schumer said.”
The Pentagon’s ability to formulate a strategy to defend American national security depends on a complete team.
Schumer is holding that up – in the middle of America’s fight against ISIS – to wage a cheap political stunt.