Senator Hawley vows to block crucial Biden nominees unless his outrageous demands are met
When a spoiled child doesn’t get their way, they stomp their feet and threaten to hold their breath until they turn blue unless their demands are met.
One could rightfully accuse Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) of such despicable childish behavior after he announced today that he will do everything in his power to block — or at least slow down — any nominee that President Biden may propose for vacant positions in the State or Defense Departments unless Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan resign after what Hawley considers their massive failures in conjunction with the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I will not consent to the nomination of any nominee for the Department of Defense or for the Department of State until Secretary Austin and Secretary Blinken and Jake Sullivan resign,” Senator Hawley said during a speech on the Senate floor this morning in which he criticized the Afghanistan exit as botched.
Hawley, who infamously posed with a raised fist to salute and encourage the Trump-loving insurrectionists who stormed and trashed his own workplace, also railed against President Biden and postured for the MAGA hordes with a strident and fruitless call for the president to tender his own resignation.
“His behavior is disgraceful. He has dishonored this country with his shameful leadership in this crisis. And it is time for him to resign. And if he had the responsibility of leadership, he would resign,” Hawley declared, ignoring the fact that it was Donald Trump who negotiated with the Taliban to set the terms of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
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While Senator Hawley barks loudly about preventing the advancement of Biden’s nominees for the two executive branch agencies, in practice, his vow means little beyond merely slowing down an inevitable nominee confirmation process.
Any of Biden’s nominees with the support of a simple majority of senators will eventually be confirmed.
All Hawley’s objections will accomplish will be to slow the confirmation procedure down and steal valuable time from Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) to execute the Democratic legislative agenda.
Senator Hawley’s latest tantrum puts him in the loathsome company of another of his GOP colleagues throwing a similar snit fit over Biden nominees, Senator Ted Crux (R-TX), who has objected to nominations for positions in the State and Treasury Departments until the Biden administration agrees to impose congressionally mandated sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project that would enable Russia to dominate natural gas delivery into Europe.
Both Cruz and Hawley have been called out for their support of Donald Trump’s efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election results, and many progressives believe that both senators should be expelled from Congress according to the provisions of the 3rd section of the 14th Amendment which states that:
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
You can watch a clip of the obstructionist Missouri senator venting his spleen in the video below.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who famously raised a fist in solidarity to the 1/6 insurrectionists, says he won’t consent to any Department of Defense or State nominations until Sec. of State Antony Blinken, Defense Sec. Gen. Lloyd Austin and NSA Jake Sullivan resign. pic.twitter.com/ckMSU1Phc5
— The Recount (@therecount) September 14, 2021
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Original reporting by Jordain Carney at The Hill.
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