Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that he has put holds on President Trump’s nominees because the president “is destroying the American economy on purpose.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “Why do you think this method of putting up a hold on Trump’s nominees and bipartisan legislation is a good way to get your message across?”
Schatz said, “Well, look, we’ve got limited leverage. They have a 53 to 47 majority, but that doesn’t mean we have no leverage. So where I have some authority here is I can not grant them unanimous consent. At the end of every evening, they try to pass a bunch of bills and nominations kind of in an arcane language script. I’m just objecting to that. If they want any of these nominees or these bills to receive a vote, they have to schedule the vote. But this will slow them down.”
He added, “This is designed to lay down a marker both about the lawlessness of the Trump administration, but also about the fact that Donald Trump himself is destroying the American economy on purpose.”
Schatz concluded, “I think people all across the country are doing extraordinary things. I’m trying to do whatever I can. My message to everybody is we need to get a little less fussy about the particulars of the tactics and whatever is available to you to try to resist this creeping autocracy and the destroying of the American economy. Everybody should do everything that’s available to them.”
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