A vote on President Trump's ambassador pick for Ireland has been delayed after Democrats boycotted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing late last week.
Democrats boycotted a committee vote on Thursday May 8 to advance several of President Trump’s ambassador nominees, an act of rebellion against Republican efforts to quickly confirm Trump’s picks, The Hill newspaper reported.
Ambassador designate Walsh has been caught up in the resulting delay, though he does not appear to be a specific target of Democratic anger.
According to The Hill report, the boycott on Thursday "slow-walked one of Trump’s most controversial nominees, Charles Kushner for ambassador to France. Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and he received a pardon from the president clearing his convictions of tax evasion, witness tampering and other federal charges."
Added the report: "Four other nominees were also held up: Trump’s would-be ambassadors to the Netherlands, Ireland, the Dominican Republic and Chile."
Democrats, the reported continued, say they are protesting Republicans, and particularly Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho), caving to pressure from the White House to speed ambassador nominees through the confirmation process.
"Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee have exercised holds on nearly all of Trump’s nominees, an act of protest against the president’s shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development, severe cuts to foreign assistance, and other measures that they view as unconstitutional and overruling Congress’s powers.
"Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has employed a floor procedure, filing cloture, to get around Democratic holds. It’s left few options for Democrats to push back against Republican actions they oppose."
Edward Walsh, and other nominees, had, days earlier, appeared before the full committee to answer questions from members of both parties. Walsh does appear to be on the way to eventual approval for the Irish post in the pending full Senate vote.
Concluded The Hill report: "The Senate confirmation process is traditionally slow and cumbersome, owing to a variety of factors including the sheer number of positions for the Senate to review and the required vetting, hearings, committee votes and floor votes."
