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Grassley’s hypocritical comments today on the Senate floor serve as another example of Republicans openly admitting to playing politics with Biden’s nominees just as Americans need quickly-implemented, unhindered leadership to clean up Trump’s messes

Grassley’s comments today are in direct conflict with his 2019 position of not “want[ing] to be part of a resistance against a future Democrat president”

Washington, DC – Today, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa threatened to obstruct and vote against highly-qualified nominees, not based on merit or qualifications, but based on politics. Grassley, still upset that Trump’s highly conflicted, largely unqualified, and often corrupt nominees received appropriate scrutiny, is now falsely equating the Senate’s role in the nominations process with his plans to obstruct Biden’s nominees and deny President-elect Biden a fully-staffed and well-resourced Cabinet as he begins to take on the mess left behind by President Trump. In addition to being cynical and dangerous, Grassley’s comments directly conflict with his position in 2019 when he said he did not “want to be part of a resistance against a future Democrat president.”

“Today Senator Grassley confessed that he’s on a revenge mission and he’s perfectly fine with the American people paying the price,” said Mairead Lynn, spokesperson for the Accountable Senate War Room. “President-elect Biden needs a functioning government to clean up President Trump’s disastrous COVID response, get the pandemic under control, and rebuild the economy, and Senator Grassley needs to respect the will of the people and allow a smooth transition of power by taking his responsibility to vet nominees seriously, not playing politics with peoples’ lives.”

Grassley on the Senate floor today:

  • “Democrats are always lecturing Republican senators about approving future Biden Cabinet nominees even if we don’t agree with them. Now, that’s pretty darn rich… I want to hear from Democrats why we should not now adopt their standards and vote down nominees based on politics,” Mr. Grassley said.” [The Independent, 12/17/20]

Grassley in April 2019:

  • “If one of the current Senate Democrats running for president gets elected in 2020, I will be disappointed and I surely won’t agree with most of their policies. So should I then vote against all their nominees?
  • “I would ask the presidential candidates, ‘Do you expect me to behave differently than you are right now if in the future the shoe is on the other foot?’
  • “I don’t want to be part of a resistance against a future Democrat president.” [U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, 4/2/2019]

 

Watchdog group Accountable.US recently launched the Accountable Senate War Room to fight back against those lawmakers who seek to overturn the will of the people by standing in the way of the smooth transition of power and the swift approval of nominees to ensure that the government can function and deliver results for the American people.

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