Joe Biden would have a tougher time confirming Cabinet appointments than his predecessor if the Senate is controlled by Republicans, reports PolitiFact.
If Republicans win at least one of two Georgia Senate seats up for grabs in a Jan. 5 runoff election, Biden would be the first Democrat president since Grover Cleveland to take office without the upper chamber controlled by his party.
It’s unlikely Republicans would block all or most of his Cabinet picks — nominations are rarely voted down on the Senate floor — but some could get turned back while others would have to run through numerous hearings and procedural votes before securing their place in the Biden administration.
"It's going to be hard, hard, hard," Paul C. Light, a professor at New York University’s Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, told PolitiFact. "Republicans will go after the weakest nominees and will seek to split Democratic support between progressives and moderates."
Some Republicans have said publicly they wouldn't rush to confirm Biden’s Cabinet.
“Biden says he wants unity, but his choices for cabinet positions say otherwise,” tweeted Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton.
“We’re going to ask some hard questions about how far to the left they’re going to want to go,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said in a recent interview.
“If they’re going to want to go way left on us and take apart some of the successes we’ve had we’re going to have debate about that.”
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming in early December wrote in a Wall Street Journal guest column that Republicans wouldn’t forget how Senate Democrats did everything they could to delay President Donald Trump’s nominees.
“The unprecedented obstruction of the previous administration will have lasting consequences for future administrations,” he wrote. “Senate Democrats put in place new standards and norms. They won’t be easily washed away.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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