Senate Judiciary Committee approves Sessions for AG
Published 3:00 am Thursday, February 2, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala., celebrated the Senate Judiciary Committee’s approval of Alabama senator Jeff Sessions Wednesday as Attorney General of the United States.
“Jeff Sessions is an outstanding American who for many years has fought tirelessly to advance conservative principles,” Roby said. “He is a man of the highest character and integrity who has a deep understanding of the rule of law. There is no one more qualified to lead our country as Attorney General, and I’m confident that he will serve the American people admirably.
“Our country needs Jeff Sessions’ leadership as Attorney General, and I urge the full Senate to confirm his nomination without delay.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Jeff Sessions’ confirmation by a vote of 11-9. The nomination now goes to the full Senate, which could vote on confirmation as soon as this week.
President Donald Trump is continuing tomake progress on his cabinet picks, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson being confirmed on Wednesday afternoon by the full Senate and two other cabinet picks being pushed through the Senate Finance Committee.
Tillerson passed the confirmation despite being the most heavily opposed secretary of state pick in history.
Tillerson had 43 votes cast against him on Wednesday, far and away breaking the previous record of opposing votes set in 1825, when Henry Clay had 14 votes cast against him.
The Senate Finance committee suspended rules to get two of Trump’s cabinet picks before the full Senate.
Busting through a Democratic boycott of the Finance panel, all 14 Republicans took advantage of Democrats’ absence to temporarily disable a committee rule requiring at least one Democrat to be present for votes.
They then used two 14-0 roll calls to approve financier Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to be health secretary, ignoring Democrats’ demands that the two nominees provide more information about their financial backgrounds.
Trump also revealed Neal Gorusch as his pick for Supreme Court Justice Tuesday night and urged the Senate’s Republican leader on Wednesday to resort to the “nuclear option” of scrapping longstanding chamber rules if needed to confirm him.