Ricketts: We’re Overcoming Democrat Obstruction and Confirming President Trump’s Nominees
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) celebrated the rate of Senate confirmations for President Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Ricketts made the comments in a conference call with Nebraska media.
“We are quickly confirming President Trump’s Cabinet,” Ricketts said. “In the first two weeks of the administration, we confirmed nine Cabinet officials. Eight of those votes were bipartisan. That’s 50% more than were confirmed in the first two weeks of the [first] Trump administration or the Biden administration for that matter. We’ve accomplished that while overcoming historic Democratic obstruction.”
“Americans deserve a president empowered to do the job they elected him to do,” Ricketts closed. “We’re going to keep doing what it takes to get President Trump’s qualified nominees confirmed. We’re not going to stop until we get the job done.”
TRANSCRIPT:
Senator Ricketts: “My colleagues and I have been hard at work confirming President Trump’s nominees.
“In the first days of the Trump administration, we focused on the president’s national security team.
“We unanimously confirmed Marco Rubio to be Secretary of State.
“We confirmed John Ratcliffe to be the CIA Director in a bipartisan manner – with 74 votes.
“We confirmed Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.
“We confirmed Kristi Noem to be Secretary of Homeland Security – again in a bipartisan vote.
“And we confirmed Scott Bessent to be Secretary of the Treasury with 68 votes – also, bipartisan.
“Over the last week, we completed President Trump’s energy team.
“We confirmed Lee Zeldin to be EPA Administrator in a bipartisan vote.
“And we confirmed Doug Burgum to be Secretary of Interior – with 79 votes. Again, bipartisan.
“And on Monday, we confirmed Chris Wright to be Secretary of Energy in a bipartisan vote.
“Plus, we confirmed Sean Duffy to be Secretary of Transportation – with 77 votes.
“We are quickly confirming President Trump’s Cabinet.
“In the first two weeks of the administration, we confirmed 9 Cabinet officials.
“8 of those votes were bipartisan.
“That’s 50% more than were confirmed in the first two weeks of the [first] Trump administration or the Biden administration for that matter.
“We’ve accomplished that while overcoming historic Democratic obstruction.
“Democrats have refused to speed up the process to allow President Trump to get his Cabinet.
“They’ve insisted on wasting time with extra, unnecessary votes.
“Even though all but one of these Cabinet nominees so far have received bipartisan support!
“Under President Bush and President Obama, not a single Cabinet nominee had to endure a cloture vote – or a vote to end debate.
“Yet Democrats have insisted on cloture votes for every Cabinet nominee except Marco Rubio.
“That means Democrats have voted for a nominee in Committee and then insisted on unnecessary floor votes.
“They know these qualified nominees will be confirmed, yet they insist upon obstructing them anyway.
“That’s an unserious approach.
“Americans deserve a president empowered to do the job they elected him to do.
“We’re going to keep doing what it takes to get President Trump’s qualified nominees confirmed.
“We’re not going to stop until we get the job done.”