Tyranny of the Minority - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Tyranny of the Minority - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Finally confronting bare-knuckle Republican obstruction tactics, the Senate on Thursday began to debate changing its rules for confirming presidential nominees. Under a proposal by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a majority of senators, not the extraordinary 60 votes needed under existing rules, could shut off debate over nominations for Cabinet posts and other senior administration jobs subject to Senate confirmation. Sen. Bernie Sanders wholeheartedly agrees with Reid. “With rare exceptions, a president should have the right to appoint his team to implement the policies he was elected to carry out,” Sanders said. What brought the issue to a head were the long-stalled nominations of Thomas Perez to head the Department of Labor and Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Republicans also have dragged out the confirmation process on nominees to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which they opposed creating in the first place, and the National Labor Relations Board, which enforces workplace laws they don’t like.