Last November’s election gave Democrats an extra seat in the Senate, a welcome cushion for the party that should have made it easier to confirm President Joe Biden’s executive and judicial nominations.
But in recent weeks, the names of two key Biden candidates have been withdrawn from consideration for jobs in his administration, and two others may be in jeopardy.
The problem is attributed to a mix of absences: Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) are both in ill health, leaving Democrats short of the 50 votes needed for confirmation — by as well as discord within the Democratic caucus.
Over the weekend, Phil Washington, Biden’s nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration, withdrew his bid after Republican senators raised concerns with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Gigi Sohn, Biden’s longtime Federal Communications Commission nominee, did the same earlier this month.
Julie Su, Biden’s pick to lead the Labor Department and a favorite among progressives, also faces skepticism from moderate Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin (DW. Va.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont. ). Su met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) on Tuesday and is expected to be heard next month.
“I’m still following him. No decision has been made,” Tester told reporters when asked about her nomination.
“I’m sure there are concerns,” added Manchin, who also vowed not to move forward with a separate Biden nominee to oversee oil and gas leasing at the Interior Department.
Meanwhile, Michael Delaney, Biden’s nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, is facing scrutiny from Democrats and progressive groups over his handling of a school sexual assault case. Top Democrats are backing Delaney, but the Senate Judiciary Committee has been unable to advance her nomination due to the absence of Feinstein, who is still recovering from a bout of shingles.
Republicans said Democrats should do a better job of fielding qualified candidates, though they haven’t always done so when they controlled the upper chamber under President Donald Trump.
“The Biden administration needs to do a better job of vetting candidates and choosing people who have real qualifications rather than meeting some kind of checklist of criteria to satisfy their liberal base,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R -Texas), pointing to a Justice Biden. Nominee who had difficulty answering questions about the US Constitution in his confirmation hearing.
Despite the potential deadlock with Delaney’s nomination, Democrats have largely been able to advance Biden’s judicial nominees at a historic pace. The Senate has confirmed more justices (118) at this point in a president’s term than in any of the previous three administrations, according to INFORMATION provided by Schumer’s office. Most of these new judges are women and people of color.
Democratic senators played down their bumps in the confirmation process on Tuesday.
“It’s a fairly recent phenomenon for the parties to line up evenly behind their presidential nominee, and when there’s a diversion, that’s great news,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “I think it’s okay to occasionally have Democrats who have differences of opinion about the presidential election. The story is that it happens so rarely, it doesn’t happen at all.”
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