Presidential Nominations

Earlier this year, the President made an appointment to head a controversial new agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and filled three vacancies at the National Labor Relations Board.
 
The Constitution specifies that the President may appoint nominees with the “advice and consent” of the Senate, and that in exceptional circumstances he may make appointments when the Senate remains in a lengthy period of recess. Neither of these constitutional requirements was satisfied at the time the President made the appointments.
 
In doing so, the President violated the fundamental system of checks and balances enshrined in our Constitution that protect against the dominance of one branch of government over another.
 
I take this violation seriously, as must all Americans. To allow the President to take power that does not belong to him without consequence is a step toward tyranny.

Ours is not a government of one. The Constitution isn't always efficient, but for nearly 225 years it has protected our God-given rights from would-be despots and self-styled monarchs.  

Before January 4th, I routinely cooperated with the White House regarding federal nominees, often when I had significant political or philosophical differences with them. The entire Senate, in fact, has been more than cooperative, confirming more than 95% of this administration’s nominees. I will no longer provide such cooperation, and I urge my Senate colleagues to join me in resisting further nominations until the President rescinds his unconstitutional appointments.

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