Date: April 3, 2019

Subject: Protecting the Integrity of the Judiciary by Reducing Debate Time

Description: This vote changes Senate rules to help ensure the confirmation of judges dedicated to the Constitution and nominees to crucial executive branch positions by eliminating tools that allowed the Democrat minority to nearly indefinitely hold up Trump nominees. Specifically, this vote reduced debate time following a motion to end debate from 30 hours to two hours for the majority of nominations, excluding cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court nominees and appeals court judges. Sen. Schumer (D-NY) has used the 30-hour delay tactic to hold Trump nominees hostage by forcing cloture to be invoked 264 times through 2019, compared to 32 cloture votes combined for the first terms of the previous four presidents. There are some Republicans who say these delay tactics could be useful for Republican minorities in the future; however, ACU believes it is a serious breach of American values to delay over 200 nominees in an attempt to prevent the executive branch from advancing any conservative reforms. ACU opposes Sen. Schumer's weaponization of cloture, supports this measure to confirm judges dedicated to the Constitution and properly staff the executive branch with competent officials in these crucial, Senate-confirmed positions and supported this rule change.

Result: Decision of Chair Not Sustained, 48-51

Democrat: 44 Yeas, 0 Nays, 1 Not voting
Republican: 2 Yeas, 51 Nays, 0 Not voting
Independent: 2 Yeas, 0 Nays, 0 Not voting

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