The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: mystery-ak on February 15, 2022, 05:22:27 pm
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GOP senators to block vote on Biden Fed picks
By Sylvan Lane - 02/15/22 12:02 PM EST
Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee will block votes on President Biden’s five Federal Reserve nominees, the top GOP senator on the panel announced Tuesday.
In a Tuesday statement, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said GOP members of the Banking panel will not show up for scheduled votes on Biden’s choices to serve on the Fed board, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell. A Senate committee needs at least two members from the minority party to be able to conduct official business, including the approval of presidential nominees.
Toomey said Republican senators decided to block votes on all of Biden’s nominees after Democrats refused to hold back Sarah Bloom Raskin’s nomination to be Fed vice chair of supervision. While Toomey said Raskin’s policy views were “alone disqualifying,” he argued the committee needed more information about her previous employment she refused to provide before advancing her nomination to the Senate floor.
“Important questions about Ms. Raskin’s use of the ‘revolving door’ remain unanswered largely because of her repeated disingenuousness with the Committee,” Toomey said.
more
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/594313-gop-senators-to-block-vote-on-biden-fed-picks
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A little more info...
Because of the 50-50 split in the Senate, committees are also allocated evenly along party lines. That means if all 12 Republicans on the panel don't show up, the committee can't hold a vote
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-fed-nominees-republican-committee-boycott
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Good
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McConnell: Fed fight is a warning to Biden on radical nominees
By Alexander Bolton - 02/15/22 03:04 PM EST
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday defended a Republican blockade of President Biden’s five nominees to the Federal Reserve as justified by the radical nature of the picks, in particular Biden’s choice of Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as vice chair of supervision.
Senate Republicans appeared to catch Democrats by surprise earlier in the day by announcing that they would deny the Senate Banking Committee a quorum at a business meeting in order to block a vote on Raskin.
The Banking panel’s rules do not allow the committee to hold votes on any business without a quorum present.
The power sharing agreement negotiated between Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and McConnell at the beginning of last year gave Democratic committee chairmen the power to discharge nominees out of committee in case of a tie vote. But it made no provision for discharging nominees from evenly divided committees if Republicans block votes by boycotting meetings and refusing to provide a quorum.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee say it’s too soon to say whether they’ll consider using the same tactic to try to bottle up Biden’s expected Supreme Court nominee in committee.
more
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/594364-mcconnell-fed-fight-is-a-warning-to-biden-on-radical-nominees
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Good
It's a shame the GOPe is gonna bleep this up.
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It's a shame the GOPe is gonna bleep this up.
So what's new?
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So what's new?
Nothin'.