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As the party in control of the Senate through the lame-duck period, Republicans failed to follow their own guidelines to ensure the national security of our country by slow-walking the nomination process for President-elect Biden’s Cabinet 

Washington, DC – Today, Accountable Senate War Room released a blog post detailing all the ways in which senate Republicans have left President-elect Biden without a confirmed cabinet on Inauguration Day. Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig rang the alarm more than a month ago, as Senate Republicans started obstructing and slow-walking Biden’s nominees. As a result of their obstruction, only four of President-elect Biden’s nominees will have hearings prior to Biden’s swearing-in, with little chance of being confirmed on Inauguration Day.

The Senate War Room also outlines the hypocrisy of Senate Republicans who are stonewalling the incoming Biden administration’s Cabinet confirmations, an act they deemed a threat to national security just four years ago after legitimate concerns were brought up surrounding President Trump’s appointees. Senate Republicans have stalled and obstructed the nomination process of President-elect Biden’s picks at the behest of their special interest donors, who oppose Biden’s agenda of building an economy that prioritizes working families, not political connections and influence. 

Just four years ago, many Republican Senators preached the importance of a speedy confirmation process for an incoming administration for the sake of national security. Now, many of these same Senators have been at the forefront of the efforts to delay President-elect Biden’s nominees for some of the most important leadership roles at the highest levels in the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense. In wake of a deadly attack of our nation’s Capitol, the ongoing devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and growing threats to national and cyber security, the Biden administration must be ready to get to work on day one. Yet, Senate Republicans continue stalling this process, knowing that these delays pose a threat to national security. 

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President-elect Biden will be sworn into office in a matter of hours, and instead of doing everything they can to ensure a peaceful transfer of power and that the Biden administration can hit the ground running, Senate Republicans have stalled, obstructed, and delayed the hearings for the Biden’s nominees. It’s not only blatant hypocrisy to their hardline stances from four years ago, but unacceptable for senators to cause further harm to the American people as our country faces some of the biggest threats to national security in recent history. Senate Republicans must put the interests of the American people ahead of their special interest donors once and for all by working quickly to confirm the remainder of President-elect Biden’s nominees.”

Mairead Lynn, spokesperson for Accountable Senate War Room

Read the full post here. Below is an excerpt from Accountable Senate War Room’s blog: 

This obstructionism from Senate Republicans is especially galling, considering the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, as well as the fact that the United States was just victim to what is being deemed the “worst domestic attack since 9/11” at the Capitol, in addition to the worst Russia cybersecurity attack in recent history. These Republican stall tactics will delay leadership at the highest levels in the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense at one of the most tumultuous times in our nation’s history. If Republican senators have any concern for national security or public safety, they must work with Democrats to quickly move through the confirmation process to let President-elect Biden and his Cabinet get to work.

We’re not the only ones concerned about Senate Republicans’ attempts to delay the transfer of power: Vox’s Ian Millhiser detailed all the ways in which Mitch McConnell, in his last days as Senate Majority Leader, is delaying or obstructing the incoming Biden administration, including using impeachment to further delay Senate business. According to Millhiser, “unless confirmation hearings begin very soon, holding those hearings after Biden takes office could delay the confirmation of individual cabinet members by days or even weeks.” With the timeline of Senators-elect Warnock and Ossoff’s swearing-in shrouded in uncertainty, Senate Democrats won’t have the majority until further notice, leaving Republicans with more time to delay the confirmations until the majority is taken from them.

At this rate, the majority of President-elect Biden’s nominees will not even have had hearings ahead of Inauguration Day. At the hands of Senate Republicans, the incoming Biden administration is in a worse position than Trump was in just four years ago when these same

Watchdog group Accountable.US recently launched the Accountable Senate War Room to fight back against those lawmakers who seek to overturn the will of the people by standing in the way of the smooth transition of power and the swift approval of nominees to ensure that the government can function and deliver results for the American people.

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