The confirmation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s cabinet by the Senate is the slowest in history since the time of the first U.S. President George Washington, with five confirmation out of 15.
The correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Trump’s fifth cabinet official and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was only confirmed on Tuesday after Vice President Mike Pence broke the 50-50 Senate tie-vote.
A document from the Senate Republican Communications Centre showed that at this time previously, most presidents have had their cabinet confirmed.
“The Senate’s confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet is the slowest in modern history… Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had their whole Cabinets confirmed at this point.
“Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama were nearly finished; and even George H.W. Bush had nine of his Cabinet secretaries in place despite opposition from a Democratic Senate.
“Trump, though, has only four Cabinet secretaries confirmed, although several more – including attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions – are expected to clear this week,” the document stated.
“The sluggish pace of Cabinet-level approvals is unusually slow and shows no signs of easing, as Senate Democrats vow to continue stalling tactics that could last weeks.”
The centre noted that as of Feb. 6, Trump was still waiting on confirmation of 11 of his initial Cabinet secretaries.
“He has the fewest Cabinet secretaries confirmed at this point in his presidency of any incoming president since George Washington,” it added.
According to it, at this point, Obama had 12 of 15 cabinet officials confirmed with seven confirmed on Day 1 of his presidency.
George W. Bush had 14 of 14 cabinet officials confirmed with seven on the first day.
Bill Clinton had 13 of 14 cabinet officials confirmed with 13 confirmed by the second day of his inauguration while George H. W. Bush had nine of 14 cabinet officials confirmed as at this time during his presidency.
Ronald Reagan had 12 of 13 cabinet officials confirmed with 12 by on the third day of his inauguration.
Jimmy Carter had 11 of 11 cabinet officials confirmed with eight confirmed on the first day and the rest by the end of the first week.
Richard Nixon had 12 of 12 cabinet official confirmed as at this time during his presidency with 11 of them confirmed on the first day.
John F. Kennedy had 10 of 10 cabinet officials confirmed, all of them confirmed on the second day of his inauguration.
Dwight D. Eisenhower had nine of 10 cabinet officials confirmed as at this time with eight of them confirmed on the second day of his presidency.
The centre said “for 50 years, every incoming president from James Garfield in 1881 to Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933 had all of their cabinet officials confirmed on Day 1.
“This is the longest it has taken to confirm a majority of the President’s Cabinet after he was inaugurated since President George Washington set-up the government of the United States in 1789.”
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has accused Democrats for the delay, saying they were having a tough time coming to grips with the election results.
“Republicans will eventually win all these confirmation battles, even if ‘the sluggish pace of cabinet-level approvals is unusually slow, in fact the slowest since President George Washington.
“Senate Democrats are slow-walking the installation of Trump’s cabinet to a historic degree, Republicans will eventually win all these confirmation battles, but it will be time-consuming and ugly.” (NAN)
APT/AFA