As Republicans have been trying to drag down the process of getting Joe Biden's judicial nominees approved, Republican senators warned that Donald Trump was hurting their progress by taking some members of Congress to watch the SpaceX launch, causing them to miss votes.
Sen. JD Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio were among senators who missed the opportunity to cast their votes Tuesday, leading fellow Republicans to express their frustrations.
Other senators were also reportedly absent the day prior, according to Punchbowl News and shared to X.
News — During closed-door Senate GOP lunch, lots of anger at Vance & Rubio for missing votes on Biden judicial nominees who could’ve otherwise been defeated with a mix of Dem absences, Manchin as wild card & VP Harris being in Hawaii.
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) November 19, 2024
But other GOP senators were also absent…
A number of Democrats were absent as well, meaning that if the Republican senators had been there, they likely would have been able to defeat the judicial nominations.
Democrats have been trying to push through Biden's judicial nominees before he leaves office in January.
Trump previously told Republican senators to "hold the line" to prevent as many upper chamber flips as possible, according to CBS News.
With 44 vacancies and 14 current nominees, Democrats are trying to meet or exceed the number of judicial nominees confirmed during the Trump administration. During his first term, 234 Trump nominees were confirmed, while 217 Biden nominees have been confirmed.
The final push for Democrats is not a new play. Republicans did the same thing following the 2020 election, confirming 19 judicial nominees before Biden took office.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that Democrats "will keep working to confirm as many of President Biden's judicial nominees as we can before the end of the year," according to The Hill.
Originally published by Latin Times.
