WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said the following after the Senate voted to alter its rules to limit floor debate time for sub-cabinet and lower court nominees to two hours:

“For two years, Senate Democrats have engaged in unprecedented obstruction of hundreds of President Trump’s nominations and made Washington more dysfunctional than it already was. During the first two years of this administration, Democrats stalled 128 nominees by requiring a cloture vote and 30 hours of unnecessary debate. This compares to an average of eight cloture votes required during the first two years of the last three administrations. Denying any president the ability to adequately staff their administration harms our economic and national security. 

“Harry Reid forever damaged the Senate by deploying the ‘nuclear option’ in 2013. Chuck Schumer has further harmed the Senate with his senseless obstruction. Republicans were forced to use Harry Reid’s precedent to end Democrat obstruction. Senate committees will continue to conduct thorough vetting of nominees, and this long-overdue rule change will help ensure the Senate is able to tackle the enormous challenges that face America.”

Since 2017, Sen. Johnson has advocated limiting debate on sub-cabinet and lower court nominees to fill important jobs that remain open and to end partisan obstruction.

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