Senate Republicans opted to delay votes and draw out floor action on Monday night after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sought to stack additional judicial confirmation votes on the calendar ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Two sources familiar told Fox News Digital that the plan to slow down the Senate was spearheaded by Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., who was recently elected as the next Republican Senate leader.
“If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Thune told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement.
In response to the Democrat leader’s decision to file cloture on a number of judicial nominees, which would come up for confirmation votes in a number of days, Republicans plotted procedural maneuvers on the Senate floor to significantly delay votes, multiple GOP sources told Fox News.
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Republicans sought to delay Democrats’ cloture filings on Monday as they look to quickly confirm Biden judges. (Reuters)
The additional cloture filings by Schumer come as Democrats are focusing their efforts on confirming as many judges nominated by President Biden as they can in the time they have left in the majority.
During the first procedural vote of the evening, a source familiar told Fox News, “it could be a late night.”
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Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, speaks during a news conference following Senate Republican policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In order to file cloture on a nomination, the Senate needs to transition from legislative session to executive session. This is typically done by unanimous consent from the Senate….
