“I’m not supporting nominees as long as the lawlessness continues”
“I’m not supporting nominees as long as the lawlessness continues.” – Democratic Senator Andy Kim. This is the way in which you deal with Republicans, who are typically the ones blocking and filibustering any sort of progress they can while pretending to fight for their constituents. While a number of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks – if not just about every last one – are dangerously unqualified for the positions they’ve been tapped for, Republicans hold the Senate and therefore the onus should be on them to vote for anyone reckless or sycophantic enough to work in Donald Trump’s cabinet.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer does have some decent qualifications, supporting a worker’s right to unionize in the past, but in doing so, she’s earned the ire of Sen. Rand Paul, who is a staunch proponent of the right wing’s nonsensical “right to work” laws. He’s therefore refusing to vote her nomination out of committee, requiring Senate Democrats to do it, but . Sen. Andy Kim raised a solid point: What proof do we have that Chavez-DeRemer’s word is of any value? Why will she uphold the law and fight for workers when she plans to serve under an administration that clearly shows it doesn’t care about workers?
We’ll see if she has the votes for her nomination to advance, but it’s clear that Congress has had enough of the Trump administration’s extralegal antics if even a hard-right lunatic like Paul isn’t willing to advance this nomination. Elon Musk’s blatant lawlessness is going to cost them their power and Paul is making this known.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making