Health care, nominations will go long way to determining path – Posted on July 12, 2017 – By Niels Lesniewski –
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has announced a truncated August recess, but the new schedule might just be the opening bid in a complex negotiation with Democratic leaders over the terms of debate on executive and judicial nominees, as well as big-ticket legislative items.
In his statement announcing the delay, McConnell said the chamber would work on the fiscal 2018 authorization bill for the Defense Department and “the backlog of critical nominations that have been mindlessly stalled by Democrats.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York has pushed back on such criticism, arguing the White House got off to a slow and sloppy start to the confirmation process. He also said on the Senate floor after McConnell’s announcement that the Kentucky Republican could have gotten more nominees through the chamber if he had different priorities.
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