Desperate Democrats

The Senate voted yesterday to confirm Russell Vought as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Democrats were livid over Vought’s nomination. They couldn’t argue that he was “unqualified.” He held the same position in the first Trump administration.

No, what really infuriated Democrats is that Vought played a key role in developing the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for government reform, something leftists loathe. Nevertheless, they knew they would lose the vote.

So, like angry little children, they threw a temper tantrum and delayed the vote for 30 hours. Senate Majority Leader Thune has kept the Senate in session well into the night and over weekends to get past this pointless obstruction.

What happened next is a sign of how much the left is back on its heels, but also a warning they are going to do everything they can to stop Trump from governing and to push for an uprising in the streets.

When a roll call vote takes place in the Senate, the rules require that all debate must end, and senators must do nothing but vote “Yea” or “Nay.” This is part of what makes the Senate “the world’s greatest deliberative body.” Senators debate like gentlemen, and then they sit quietly like gentlemen during the roll call vote.

But as the vote began last night on Vought’s confirmation, many left-wing senators yelled out why they were voting against Vought, which they just spent 30 hours explaining. They were supposed to say only one word, and they were making angry speeches instead.

Every time they did, the presiding officer, Senator Ashley Moody (R-FL), gaveled them down, called the senators out of order, and demanded they cast their vote. When Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did the same thing, Moody said to him, “You of all people should know not to speak during a vote.”

Trying to shout down people in the House or Senate happens often by protesters in the gallery. They are arrested, removed from the gallery, and kicked out of the building.

The Democrats in the U.S. Senate just demonstrated that they have been virtually relegated to the status of protesters trying to shout down efforts to clean up Washington, D.C. Not a good look.

After Vought was confirmed on a party-line 53 to 47 vote, he wrote on social media, “G-d be praised. Grateful to the President and the US Senate. Incredibly thankful for all the many who prayed me through. Now. Let’s. Go.”