U.S. Senator Katie Britt Delivers Remarks on Unprecedented Democrat Obstruction, Senate Republicans’ Efforts to Restore Order

"We're not going to allow the obstruction by the Senate Democrats to continue."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor today about the unprecedented efforts by Senate Democrats to delay and obstruct President Trump's team and his agenda, as well as Senate Republicans' commitment to restore order to the Senate chamber.

Excerpts from Senator Britt's speech is below. The full remarks can be seen here.

"This is about preserving the institution, not about partisan advantage. Unfortunately, this is where we are today, and I think it's important that we rise to continue to talk about this, about Senate Republicans working to restore order to this chamber …

"I understand being in the minority and it is certainly frustrating when your party doesn't win the general election. But, as we have heard our colleague say a number of times, elections have consequences.

"And while we've seen power change back and forth, from Republican to Democrat administrations, the Senate was specially designed to uphold our constitutional obligation of advice and consent … But unfortunately, this year, we've seen that unravel due to historic obstruction by Senate Democrats, a theme that goes back nearly 25 years.

"I spent a great deal of time studying the history of Senate confirmations to better understand the inflection points and how we actually got here. This is a common theme. The Senate slows confirmations when there's a Republican in the White House …

"While President Clinton had 98% of his nominees confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent, President Bush had 90% in his first term - a small, but noticeable, drop-off …

"Next, President Trump. He took office in 2017. Senate Democrats dusted off their same playbook that they wrote during President Bush's term. And while Obama had 90% of his nominees approved without a roll call vote, President Trump actually just received 65%. This slowed the Senate down and, more importantly, kept well-qualified leaders out of key roles for our country.

"Does this seem like people are trying to make this place work, or does it seem like they're trying to bring it to a screeching halt? For me, I came here to actually do something. So, we have 120 pieces of bipartisan legislation … But yet, Senate Democrats continue to try to prolong this, to try to put every roadblock in place just to keep President Trump from getting his people in place …

"I understand voting against nominees that you disagree with. I even understand requiring a cloture vote on some. What I can't understand is the blocking, is the delay tactics on every single nomination … This is not obstructing nominees. This is a protest of an election that didn't go their way.

"We are nearly nine months into this administration, and President Trump has less than 12% of his positions confirmed. The Senate has worked hard these last nine months. So, we've actually held a record number of roll call votes. We have been in session a record number of days, and unfortunately, we have another record, and that is that you have zero voice votes here for President Trump at this point in time …

"President Trump is on pace to just have confirmed 426 nominees by the end of this Congress… President Biden at the end of his first Congress, end of the first two years, [had] 919 nominees confirmed … President Trump deserves the men and women he has nominated to be in place today, and that's exactly why our conference has been working diligently to find a solution.

"The Democrats' behavior in requiring a cloture vote on almost every single nominee is, in fact, a change in rules. Their behavior has set a new precedent. We want this Senate to work again. We want it to function once again. We want to be able to bring this important legislation that we worked on in committee, in a bipartisan fashion, to the floor and get things done for the American people once again. And we're not going to allow the obstruction by the Senate Democrats to continue …

"We have obviously made sure that we have been thoughtful about a number of different avenues, and people have brought recess appointments up…

"When recess appointments are made, they only fill a position for this Congress, so you're not fixing it for the entirety of President Trump's tenure, and, also, many of the times these recess appointments are generally unpaid positions. For these outstanding nominees, it would be unfair to ask to make many of them move across the country with their families for an unpaid job that expires at the end of a Congress, not even at the end of President Trump's term.

"The blame of the delay of President Trump's nominees lies solely with Senate Democrats. When President Trump first took office, he became the first president to not have at least 90% of his nominees confirmed without a roll call vote …

"Now that we've exhausted every tool, [Democrats] keep chipping away until nothing is left … This is not what our founding fathers intended when they gave the Senate the power of advice and consent, and it is not what our voters sent us to Washington, D.C., to do."

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