The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted this evening to send the nomination of Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State to the Senate floor with a recommendation for approval. The vote was 10 to 9 with senator Coons of Delaware voting "present". There's much more to the story than just the numbers, however.
First, the Democrats decided a while ago to kowtow to their rabidly anti-Trump base and to oppose the Pompeo nomination. That was silly since Pompeo was approved as Director of the CIA last year by the same senators with a vote of about 65 to 35. The general consensus is that Pompeo has done an outstanding job as head of the CIA. That meant that a whole host of Democrats had to come up with reasons why the supported Pompeo for CIA director but now would vote against him being Secretary of State. Some of the excuses were lame, to put it mildly. For instance, Senator Shaheen of New Hampshire said she would not vote for Pompeo this time because of his pro-life positions. Huh? Pompeo held the same positions last year when Shaheen not only voted for him but praised him as an outstanding choice. It was all posturing for the base, however. The Democrats were sure Pompeo would be approved and they could just oppose him without affecting his confirmation.
Second, Pompeo is in the middle of negotiations with Kim Jung Un of North Korea about denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. This is perhaps the biggest foreign policy issue currently facing the USA and the Democrats' games with the Pompeo nomination could have weakened the US negotiating team and hurt the American people. The Democrats all thought that Pompeo would be confirmed anyway, though.
Third, when the vote came in the Foreign Relations Committee, senator Wicker of Georgia was not present. He was in Atlanta attending a funeral. That meant that there were equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats present for the meeting. The first vote taken was ten to ten, a tie. A tie is not en endorsement, so Pompeo could have been sent to the Senate floor without a recommendation in his favor. Such a result might have made the Democrat base happy, but it would have hurt the US position with North Korea and it would have annoyed all those independent voters who would have seen it as the Democrats playing political games rather than advancing the cause of the USA.
The result was that senator Coons agreed to change his vote to "present". That meant that the Democrats did not have to undergo scrutiny for their obstructive behavior. They can tell their base that they did all that they could (which is not true), but Pompeo would still get approved.
The obstruction by the Democrats of all the nominations made by President Trump is unprecedented. It has harmed the federal government's ability to respond to problems. That actually seems to make the Democrats happy. They would rather have the federal government fail to accomplish some goal than to help achieve something positive for the American people.
First, the Democrats decided a while ago to kowtow to their rabidly anti-Trump base and to oppose the Pompeo nomination. That was silly since Pompeo was approved as Director of the CIA last year by the same senators with a vote of about 65 to 35. The general consensus is that Pompeo has done an outstanding job as head of the CIA. That meant that a whole host of Democrats had to come up with reasons why the supported Pompeo for CIA director but now would vote against him being Secretary of State. Some of the excuses were lame, to put it mildly. For instance, Senator Shaheen of New Hampshire said she would not vote for Pompeo this time because of his pro-life positions. Huh? Pompeo held the same positions last year when Shaheen not only voted for him but praised him as an outstanding choice. It was all posturing for the base, however. The Democrats were sure Pompeo would be approved and they could just oppose him without affecting his confirmation.
Second, Pompeo is in the middle of negotiations with Kim Jung Un of North Korea about denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. This is perhaps the biggest foreign policy issue currently facing the USA and the Democrats' games with the Pompeo nomination could have weakened the US negotiating team and hurt the American people. The Democrats all thought that Pompeo would be confirmed anyway, though.
Third, when the vote came in the Foreign Relations Committee, senator Wicker of Georgia was not present. He was in Atlanta attending a funeral. That meant that there were equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats present for the meeting. The first vote taken was ten to ten, a tie. A tie is not en endorsement, so Pompeo could have been sent to the Senate floor without a recommendation in his favor. Such a result might have made the Democrat base happy, but it would have hurt the US position with North Korea and it would have annoyed all those independent voters who would have seen it as the Democrats playing political games rather than advancing the cause of the USA.
The result was that senator Coons agreed to change his vote to "present". That meant that the Democrats did not have to undergo scrutiny for their obstructive behavior. They can tell their base that they did all that they could (which is not true), but Pompeo would still get approved.
The obstruction by the Democrats of all the nominations made by President Trump is unprecedented. It has harmed the federal government's ability to respond to problems. That actually seems to make the Democrats happy. They would rather have the federal government fail to accomplish some goal than to help achieve something positive for the American people.
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