Dem senator places ‘blanket hold’ on Trump’s State Department nominees to protest USAID reorganization

Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he will place a “blanket hold” on President Donald Trump’s State Department nominees to slow-walk their confirmations.

On Monday, Schatz explained that he is stalling the president’s nominations to protest Trump’s and Elon Musk’s desire to dissolve the United States Agency for International Development.

‘I will do maximal delays until this is resolved.’

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency discovered wasteful, anti-American spending by USAID.

“As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have, actually, just a ball of worms,” Musk said. “It’s hopeless. USAID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple, you just gotta basically get rid of the whole thing.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that he is the acting director of USAID.

“One of the most common complaints you will get if you go to embassies around the world from State Department officials and ambassadors and the like is USAID is not only not cooperative — they undermine the work that we’re doing in that country, they are supporting programs that upset the host government for whom we’re trying to work with on a broader scale, and so forth,” Rubio stated.

On Monday, workers were locked out of the USAID building as the White House prepares a reorganization of the agency’s activities.

Democrats gathered outside the building to protest, claiming the action was “illegal.”

Schatz stated that he plans to retaliate against the Trump administration’s decision by opposing senators’ requests for “unanimous consent” to expedite the confirmation process of presidential nominees.

“I will vote no. I will do maximal delays until this is resolved,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “You cannot wave a wand and eliminate a department established by federal law, so it will be reversed by a court.”

Schatz claimed that dissolving USAID would be “illegal” and make the country “less safe.”

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk can’t just wish it away with a stroke of a pen — they need to pass a law,” he said. “Until and unless this brazenly authoritarian action is reversed and USAID is functional again, I will be placing a blanket hold on all of the Trump administration’s State Department nominees.”

“This is self-inflicted chaos of epic proportions that will have dangerous consequences all around the world,” Schatz claimed.

Schatz’s hold will force Republican lawmakers to waste floor time to confirm Trump’s nominees instead of fast-tracking them for a vote. While Democrats do not have enough votes on their own to block Trump’s picks, they can drag out the process.

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