U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) addressed the Senate floor today, calling for extended sessions into August or changes to Senate rules if Democrats continue to delay confirmation of President Trump’s nominees. Cornyn criticized what he described as unprecedented obstruction by Senate Democrats.
“I don’t believe, Mr. President, that the Senate should leave town without ensuring that President Trump has his nominees and his team in place,” Cornyn said.
He stated that rather than objecting to specific nominees, Democrats have objected to all of them, causing significant delays. “We find ourselves really in an unprecedented situation where Democrats, rather than picking and choosing the nominees they choose to object to, have simply chosen to object to all of them, forcing us to burn a lot of valuable floor time that we could be using for other more constructive purposes, and delaying President Trump, who after all, won the election last November, the team he’s entitled to govern and carry out his policies.”
Cornyn accused Democrats of refusing any confirmation votes during Trump’s second term. “What our Democratic colleagues are saying is, we will agree to no confirmation votes on Trump nominees during his second term.”
The senator highlighted that about 30 of these nominees are for ambassador positions worldwide. “Many of these nominees – I think roughly 30 of them – are Senate-confirmed nominees to serve as an ambassador in our embassies around the world.”
He warned about potential risks if U.S. embassies remain without confirmed ambassadors amid global tensions. “I don’t have to remind all of us that the world has become a much more dangerous place and, the idea that the United States would not have a Senate-confirmed ambassador in these embassies around the world is simply shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Cornyn compared this situation with actions by other countries: “China and Russia and our other adversaries, they certainly have their ambassadors working in each of those countries to further their interests, but the idea that the United States would be absent because Senate Democrats simply refuse to confirm these ambassadors is really beyond the pale.”
He also pointed out that most contested nominations involve non-controversial individuals: “What we’re talking about really are rank-and-file people, who are confirmed by a vote of the Senate.”
Cornyn expressed support for removing some confirmation requirements altogether: “I personally believe that we should change the law and not require Senate confirmation for many of these positions.”
He described Democratic opposition as unnecessary: “The Democrats simply are mindlessly obstructing the confirmation of these non-controversial, really apolitical nominees.”
“If we can’t reach some sort of negotiated outcome that is satisfactory to President Trump, then we need to either stay here or change the Senate rules,” Cornyn added.
“Senate Democrats are the ones that brought us to where we are today, and they’re the ones responsible for the blame.”
John Cornyn has served multiple terms as senator from Texas after winning elections against MJ Hegar in 2020 (53.5%–43.9%), David Alameel in 2014 (61.6%–34.3%), Rick Noriega in 2008 (54.8%–42.8%), and Ron Kirk in 2002 (55%–43%).
