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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor on Democrat obstruction of President Trump’s Cabinet and the importance of confirming Betsy DeVos to be next Education Secretary:

“Just before the election, the Democratic Leader said he believed the Senate has a ‘moral obligation, even beyond the economy and politics, to avoid gridlock…’ Put simply, he said, ‘We have to get things done.’

“And yet, just a few months later, Democrat obstruction has reached such extreme levels that the smallest number of Cabinet officials have been confirmed in modern history at this point in a presidency. It’s a historic break in tradition, a departure from how newly-elected presidents of both parties have been treated in decades past.

“In fact, by this same point into their terms, other recent presidents from both sides of the aisle had more than twice as many Cabinet officials confirmed as President Trump does now. President Obama had 12 Cabinet officials confirmed at this point in his term. President George W. Bush had all 14 Cabinet nominees confirmed. President Clinton had 13. President Trump has a mere 4.

“Well, Mr. President, it seems this gridlock and opposition has far less to do with the nominees actually before us than the man who nominated them. Just like we’re seeing with President Trump’s outstanding Supreme Court pick.

“The Democratic Leader and his colleagues are under a great deal of pressure from those on the Left who simply cannot accept the results of a democratic election. They’re calling for Democrats to delay and punt and blockade the serious work of the Senate at any cost. They would like nothing more than for Democrats to continue to ‘resist’ and prevent this President from moving our country forward.

“Unfortunately, many of our friends across the aisle have given in to these groups’ calls for obstruction. And some have even gone to unprecedented lengths to delay for delay’s sake. They’ve forced meaningless procedural hurdles, they’ve stalled confirmation votes as long as possible, they’ve postponed hearings, and they’ve even boycotted committee meetings altogether. Their excuses are ever-changing and some border on the absurd. We don’t like the seating arrangement, they say. We can’t be late to a protest, they argue. There was even some excuse about a YouTube video.

“Look, enough is enough. The American people elected a new President in November. Democrats don’t have to like that decision, but they do have a responsibility to our country. The American people want us to bring the nation together and move forward. It’s far past time to put the election behind us and put this President’s Cabinet into place – just as previous Senates have done for previous newly-elected Presidents of both parties.

“The nominee for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a well-qualified candidate who’s earned the support of 20 governors and several education groups from across the nation. As Education Secretary, she will be our students’ foremost advocate, working to improve our education system so that every child has a brighter future. Importantly, she also understands that our teachers, students, parents, school boards, and local and state governments are best suited to make education decisions — not Washington bureaucrats.

“I have every confidence that Ms. DeVos will lead the Department of Education in such a way that will put our students’ interests first while also strengthening the educational opportunities available to all of America’s children. I urge colleagues to join in confirming Ms. DeVos, so that she can begin the very important work before her without further delay.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor on Judge Neil Gorsuch and the confirmation process:

“President Trump’s outstanding Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has earned high praise from across the political spectrum. Some of it has come from unlikely corners, whether Democratic Senators, left-leaning publications, former President Obama’s own legal mentor — even his former top Supreme Court lawyer.

“We’ve heard from those Gorsuch has taught. We’ve heard from many who’ve worked alongside him. In fact, just a few days ago we received a letter from several of his former law colleagues. Let me share some of that with you now.

“’We are Democrats, independents, and Republicans,’ the letter began.

“’Many of us have served in government, some during Republican and some during Democratic administrations; some of us have served in both. We have clerked for Supreme Court justices and appellate and district court judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents. We represent a broad spectrum of views on politics, judicial philosophy, and many other subjects as well. But we all agree on one thing: our former colleague, Neil M. Gorsuch…is superbly qualified for confirmation…’

“’He is a man of character, decency, and accomplishment,’ they continued, one who represented all of his clients ‘without regard to ideology,’ and one ‘who merits this appointment.’ Clearly, it’s not going to be easy to paint Judge Gorsuch as anything but extremely qualified and exceptionally fair. That hasn’t stopped some on the Left from trying.

“They started musing about blocking any nominee before the President had even nominated anyone. It’s a good reminder that much of the opposition we’re seeing from Far Left groups and Democrat Senators isn’t so much about Judge Gorsuch as it’s about their dissatisfaction with the outcome of the election.

“As a Washington Post headline recently declared, ‘Democrats’ goal with court nomination: Make it a referendum on Trump.’

“’… [P]rominent Senate Democrats,’ the article read, are ‘giving the nominee’s 10-plus years on ‘the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit almost secondary consideration.’ It seems they believe their best, and perhaps only, bet to bring down this highly qualified judge is by ‘inject[ing] Trump into the process.’

“The very next day, the New York Times ran an article about Democrats’ apparent hope that this Supreme Court fight will be ‘More About Trump Than Gorsuch.’ In other words, our Democratic colleagues are finding it hard to oppose Judge Gorsuch on the merits, so they’re trying to divert attention and invent new hurdles for him to surmount. That’s their playbook. Sure enough, we see them running the play.

“Consider the Assistant Democratic Leader’s speech the other day. It was supposedly about Judge Gorsuch. He sure had a lot to say: about President Trump, about things President Trump has done, about things President Trump might do, about refighting old battles…but precious little about the qualifications of the actual nominee before us, and precious little about the increasing number of accolades he’s been receiving, especially from well-known folks on the political Left.

“I mentioned several a moment ago. Now we can add another to the list: Alan Dershowitz, the famous Constitutional scholar and longtime Harvard Law professor. Dershowitz described Judge Gorsuch as ‘highly credentialed and hard to oppose’ and dismissed the idea that he could be caricatured as some sort of ‘extreme right-wing [ideologue].’ ‘[T]hat doesn't seem to fit what I know about him,’ Dershowitz said, adding that Gorsuch will ‘be hard to oppose on the merits.’ Indeed he will.

“That’s precisely why our Democratic colleagues are making the debate on his nomination about other things and other people. That’s also why they are arguing that there are ‘special’ hurdles for Judge Gorsuch to clear — hurdles that they are forced to admit were not there for the first term nominees of Democratic presidents.

“When even a left-winger like Rachel Maddow can’t help but admit that Judge Gorsuch is ‘a relatively mainstream choice’ — when even Maddow characterizes a Democrat attempt to filibuster his nomination as ‘radical’ — it’s hard to argue otherwise.

“That won’t stop many on the Far Left from trying. I invite Democrats, who spent many months insisting ‘we need nine,’ to now follow through on that advice by giving this superbly qualified nominee fair consideration and an up-or-down vote. It’s time to finally accept the result of the election and move on, so we can all move our country forward.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the support Judge Neil Gorsuch has received from both Republicans and Democrats:

“I was surprised by a statement my friend the Democratic leader made here yesterday. I’m glad he came back to the floor to correct himself though. I think we all appreciated the Democratic Leader making clear that Republicans did not — let me repeat, did not — insist on 60-vote thresholds for either of President Obama’s two first-term Supreme Court nominees. We thank the Democratic leader for clearing that up.

“His statement also reminds us all that both of the Supreme Court justices President Clinton nominated got a straight up-or-down vote too. There’s no reason someone like Judge Gorsuch — who’s received widespread acclaim from both sides of the aisle — should be treated differently now.

“When he was nominated to his current seat on the Court of Appeals, Judge Gorsuch received the American Bar Association’s highest possible rating, ‘unanimously well-qualified.’ At his confirmation hearing, no one had a single negative word to say about him. At his confirmation vote, no one cast a negative vote against him: not then-Senator Obama, not then-Senators Clinton, Biden, or Kennedy, not my good friend Senator Schumer either. Judge Gorsuch was confirmed in exceptionally fast time for a Court of Appeals nominee too, just two months.

“So you have to wonder, if this nominee was so non-controversial in 2006 that a roll-call vote wasn’t even required, what could possibly have changed since to justify threats of extraordinary treatment now? If the Democratic leader or anyone else in his Conference didn’t raise a concern in committee or cast a single negative vote then, let alone even ask for a roll-call vote, what could possibly justify these so-called ‘grave concerns’ he claims to have now?

“Professor Laurence Tribe, President Obama’s law school mentor, called Judge Gorsuch a ‘brilliant, terrific guy who would do the Court's work with distinction.’ This is Laurence Tribe, the president’s Constitutional law professor, one of the best known liberal professors in the country.

“Neil Katyal, President Obama’s top Supreme Court lawyer, lauded Judge Gorsuch as ‘one of the most thoughtful and brilliant judges to have served our nation over the last century.’ That’s President Obama’s Supreme Court lawyer.

“The left-leaning Denver Post recently highlighted Judge Gorsuch’s reputation as ‘a brilliant legal mind’ who applies the law ‘fairly and consistently.’ And, I’m happy to report, we’ve even been assured by liberal talk show host, Rachel Maddow, that Gorsuch is ‘a relatively mainstream choice.’

“Turns out, in the years since Judge Gorsuch’s unopposed Senate confirmation, he’s shown himself to be the very kind of judge everyone hoped he’d be — one who demonstrates the ‘sense of fairness and impartiality’ that Democratic then-Senator Salazar lauded him for in 2006, which Salazar called ‘keystone for being a judge.’

“That was Judge Neil Gorsuch’s reputation back then, and it is his richly-deserved reputation still, as those in both parties who’ve known and worked with him continue to tell us. As one Democrat and Denver Attorney put it, Judge Gorsuch: is ‘smart [and] he's independent.’

“The things we’ve heard from so many about Judge Gorsuch — smart and independent…fair and impartial…thoughtful and brilliant — are just the qualities we should expect in our next Supreme Court justice. They are the same qualities I’m confident Judge Gorsuch would bring to the Court.”

Recent Press Releases

Democrats’ Historic Obstruction

February 6, 2017

Judge Gorsuch is a ‘Superbly Qualified Nominee’

February 6, 2017

Gorsuch Has Received Widespread Acclaim from Both Sides of the Aisle

February 2, 2017