Merkley: Partisan Senate Rules Change Degrades Constitution’s ‘Advise and Consent’ Responsibility

Senator Reacts to Senate Republicans Ceding Even More Power to Trump's Executive Branch

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after Senate Republicans rammed through a partisan rules change to the Senate nominations process:

"The nominations process is broken and in desperate need of an overhaul. But instead of consulting with Democrats to secure a bipartisan solution, Senate Republicans have rammed through a partisan rules change to consider an unlimited number of nominations in single blocks.

"For the third time this year, Republicans have opted to pursue the partisan path and upend the institution to advance President Trump's reckless agenda. In this case, historically unqualified nominees will now be confirmed with astonishingly little debate and total disregard for the Senate's Constitutional responsibilities.

"It's not far off to imagine grouping qualified appointments with bad apples, gutting Senators' ability to advance the qualified and block the unqualified-yet doing so is exactly the responsibility the Constitution gives to the Senate.

"With one swift motion, Senate Republicans degraded our Constitutional 'Advise and Consent' responsibility. Without the Senate's core ability to serve as a check to balance other branches of the government, the voice of the American people is reduced to a whimper."

For more than a decade, Merkley has led the charge to address Senate obstruction and dysfunction and restore the Senate as a deliberative legislative body so that it can tackle the biggest issues facing the American people.

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