Republican Sen. John McCain admitted to CNN on Monday he is in no hurry to confirm President Barack Obama's nominees after Democrats changed the rules to push through nominees in the last Congress.
But, he insisted, attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch is not part of that effort.
Lynch's nomination is being stalled over efforts by Republicans to pass a human trafficking bill, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee told CNN's
"The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."
When it comes to other nominees however, McCain said he is just keeping a promise he made to Democrats when in 2013 they changed Senate rules on nominees — the so-called "nuclear option" — that required only a 51-vote majority to move most nominees to the floor rather than the longstanding 60 votes.
"I told them when they did the nuclear option and I didn't have my rights of advise and consent, I wasn't going to be hurry to confirm nominees through the department of defense," McCain said. "I'm not embarrassed to say that because they jammed through people I didn't have a chance to debate or mount any obstacle to their confirmation."
McCain said he had defended Democrats' rights when Republicans had previously held the majority.
When Blitzer asked if McCain was saying he has deliberately held up some confirmations, he replied: "I am suggesting that I told them if they were going to jam these people through without my right of advise and consent it would be a while before they are going to be confirmed or move through the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"That's not a threat. That's not blackmail. That's just what I told them I would do if they violated my rights and my obligations to represent the people of Arizona and the United States Senate, which they did," McCain said.
McCain also made the admission about stalling nominees
to Politico. He has stalled 10 civilian nominees since taking over as chairman, though he did move quickly to confirm Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
A total of 18 nominees currently are stalled on the Senate floor, while 130 are stuck in committees, Politico reported.
In another matter, McCain said he would favor using U.S. air power against the Houthi rebels in Yemen as long as there were forward air controllers on the ground and if there was no other option.
"It is a very serious escalatory step, as you know, and as much as I love air power, air power alone is not the decisive factor in a conflict," he said.
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