Democrats already planning to block President-elect Donald Trump's Supreme Court picks in the same manner Republicans blocked Obama nominee Merrick Garland will be doing so at their own political peril, Rep. Chris Collins warned Tuesday.
"We have 23 Democrat senators up for re-election in 10 years, 10 of them running in states Trump won," the New York Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" co-host Bill Hemmer. "They will have to be very careful about being obstructionists. They can't stop any of these nominations from ultimately being approved."
And if the Democrats "just delay, delay," that will be what America does not want to see, and they will be tagged as obstructionists, Collins continued.
"There will be a political price to pay," he told Hemmer. "It really not a service to this country to have agencies after January 20, that have temporary administrators as we're waiting for the cabinet secretary to be approved."
After Sen. Harry Reid changed the rules on the "nuclear option" in Congressional votes, the only nominees that can be filibustered are Supreme Court justices, said Collins, and as for the rest of Trump's nominees, there will be 51 votes needed.
However, there are "procedural things they can do in the Senate, arcane rules," said Collins, so if Democrats want to "push it out they certainly can do it, but I think there will be a political price they will ultimately pay with the public opinion."
Meanwhile, the expectations for Congress with Trump coming in are high, and Collins said he does believe they can be achieved.
"Some of us would love to see marginal tax rates at 28 percent," he said. "It's more likely to be at 33, but there are going to be tax cuts. But when it comes to securing our borders, fundamental tax reform, repealing and ultimately replacing Obamacare, an infrastructure bill, those things are all going to be achieved and it is just a matter of degrees."
In the first 200 days of Trump's presidency, though, there will be major changes, particularly in Obamacare, tax reform, and infrastructures," the lawmaker said.
"There is no question we'll repeal Obamacare," said Collins. "We will do fundamental tax reform, and you will see the beginnings of an infrastructure bill, some of which might be tied into fundamental tax reform, especially if it is repatriation of dollars now held overseas."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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