Dem senator blocks hundreds of Trump nominees using tactic he once called ‘abuse of power’

Democratic Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz is blocking more than 300 of President Donald Trump’s nominees from swift confirmation votes despite previously criticizing efforts to stall nominations during the Biden administration.

Schatz’s blockade of hundreds of Trump nominees and at least nine bipartisan foreign relations bills comes as Senate Democrats are escalating opposition tactics against the Trump administration to appease their left-wing base. Schatz, a member of Senate Democratic leadership, previously criticized Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s decision to place holds on military officials’ promotions as “obstruction” and “antithetical” to the Senate’s “advice and consent” responsibilities.

Schatz expanded his hold on Trump nominees to include individuals tapped to serve across 12 agencies, such as former New York Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, whom Trump appointed to a Department of Labor position, Axios reported.

“Their lawlessness is escalating, and they are intentionally destroying the economy, and so I don’t think we should make anything easy going forward,” Schatz told Axios Monday. The Hawaii Democrat previously announced a blanket hold on State Department nominees following the Trump administration’s decision to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

However, Schatz fiercely opposed Tuberville’s use of a blanket hold on military promotions under the Biden administration, arguing in 2023 that the Alabama Republican’s decision to stall nominations was an “abuse of power” and a “stunt” that failed to achieve its desired effect.

Tuberville’s holds on military promotions lasted for nearly a year as he pressured the Department of Defense to end the agency’s taxpayer-funded abortion travel policy under former President Joe Biden. Trump administration Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth notably reversed the Pentagon’s abortion policy in January to comply with the Hyde Amendment, a longstanding provision that prohibits the use of taxpayer money to fund abortions with minimal exceptions.

Schatz suggested he would never impose blanket holds on a wide swath of nominees or legislation in a July 2023 speech on the Senate floor. In his speech, he argued that blanket holds are a clear abuse of a senator’s power to stall Senate business that is primarily conducted by unanimous consent.

By withholding consent on the 300-plus Trump nominees, Schatz will force Senate GOP leadership to use valuable floor time to process each nominee individually.

“Every senator has enormous power,” Schatz said in the speech. “I could probably block the defense bill this week if I wanted to, but I won’t — you know why? Because I’m not a maniac, because I understand that when you vest someone through your voters with this kind of power, you have to be very careful how you exercise it.”

“And so, in my 11-odd years [in the Senate], I’ve blocked one or two things, and when I block something, people know I’m serious,” Schatz added. “This [Tuberville’s holds] is a breaking of the basic understanding that we’re going to vest each other with the kind of authority that is pretty enormous. But in exchange, you have to use that power wisely.”

Schatz’s blockade of all State Department nominees threatens to leave hundreds of national-security adjacent positions in limbo. The Hawaii Democrat previously criticized Tuberville’s holds for allegedly impairing U.S. national security. Tuberville maintained that his blanket hold on military promotions did not affect military readiness.

Tuberville wrote in a June 2023 opinion piece in The Washington Post that his holds affect “only those at the very top — generals and flag officers. The people who actually fight are not affected at all.”

“Sen. Tuberville’s holds on hundreds of military promotions are hurting our national security,” Schatz wrote on X in November 2023.

Schatz, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is also placing holds on at least nine bipartisan foreign affairs bills. One of the bills is a resolution condemning China for decimating Hong Kong’s democracy and rule of law following pro-democracy protests that swept the island in 2019, according to Axios.

Senate Republicans have vowed to continue processing Trump’s national security nominees despite Schatz and other Senate Democrats’ attempts to slow down the pace of confirmations.

“Dilatory actions by Democratic senators won’t stop us from ensuring President Trump’s national security nominees are in place as soon as possible,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman James Risch told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday.

A spokesperson for Schatz did not immediately reply to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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