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Republican senators not attending the last few days of the legislative session are facing criticism from colleagues as Democrats work to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible before they lose the majority in January. <\/p>\n
That includes Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, the Ohio Senator. Senate Republicans shared their ire after Vance and some other Republican Senators skipped some votes Monday when Democrats worked late into the night to confirm their nominees to the federal bench. <\/p>\n
Republicans worked to slow down the voting headed by outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to push through more than a dozen judicial nominees. However, the GOP Senators were unsuccessful as some members of their conference didn\u2019t attend the session, which ended near midnight. <\/p>\n
Vance and President-elect Trump\u2019s nominee to lead the State Department, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, were two of the GOP Senators who were absent. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t show up, we lose,\u201d North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis said on Tuesday, according to The Hill. \u201cI don\u2019t care what the reasons were. We have fewer than 15 scheduled legislative days. You have to show up. Period. End of story. There\u2019s nothing more important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got potentially dozens we could have shoved down our throat, except for us being here,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Tillis cited a nominee to the fourth circuit who could be appointed unless Republicans attend the sessions. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to talk to these folks like adults and show up,\u201d the North Carolinian said. <\/p>\n
JD Vance returns to meetings with former Congressman Matt Gaetz following a vote at the U.S. Capitol on November 20, 2024 in Washington, DC. Vance faced criticism after missing some votes on Biden judicial nominees (Getty Images)One of the nominees is Embry Kidd, who was confirmed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals by a vote of 49 to 45. If all members of the Senate GOP conference had been present, and Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman had remained absent, the Republicans could have held up Kidd\u2019s nomination. <\/p>\n
With all Senators present, a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris would likely have been required. But with Harris heading to Hawaii on Tuesday, Democrats now have temporarily lost their tie-breaker. <\/p>\n
Vance also didn\u2019t appear for the morning vote on Tuesday. Fellow Republican Senators such as Ted Cruz of Texas and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee instead joined Trump for a SpaceX launch in Brownsville, Texas. <\/p>\n
Asked about his level of frustration, Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy said: \u201cOn a scale of 1 to 10, a 12.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause a number of President Biden\u2019s nominees, particularly at the courts of appeal, they think they\u2019re qualified to be a federal judge if they\u2019ve seen My Cousin Vinny, and I don\u2019t agree with them,\u201d he added, according to The Hill. <\/p>\n
\u201cTheir performance in committee demonstrated that none of them were Oliver Wendell Scalia,\u201d he added, naming some names of former Supreme Court justices. \u201cThey did horrible jobs in committee, and we had the votes to prevent them from being confirmed, but some of the folks on our side couldn\u2019t be here, and it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d <\/p>\n
Vance responded to the criticism, saying that he was meeting with Trump about who to nominate as the director of the FBI. <\/p>\n
\u201cI tend to think it\u2019s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49\u201446 rather than 49\u201445,\u201d he said, before backtracking and removing his post on X and attending the afternoon votes on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re going to be effective, we\u2019ve got to show up, and I think that\u2019s the frustration for those of us who did show up,\u201d Republican West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington email I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our\u00a0privacy policy Republican senators not attending the last few days of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n