Mike Lee Rails Against Nominee Backlog, Urges Senate To Skip August Recess To Confirm Trump's Noms

In a video posted to X on Wednesday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) spoke about the nominee backlog.

Transcript

00:00Here it is, late July in our nation's capital, and a lot of people in this town still have yet

00:06to accept the fact that President Trump won the election. As a result, you've seen a campaign of

00:13delay and obstruction in the United States Senate, enough so that we've got a 135-person

00:20backlog on the Senate presidential nomination calendar. If you look at how much time it's

00:27taken us to confirm nominees so far, it will be at least in April of 2026, just before we clear the

00:35current backlog. And by then, we will have had hundreds of additional nominees make it through

00:40the committee process. We can't continue this way, and if we try, we're going to have the deep state

00:46basically running our federal agencies and departments. If there's anything that we've

00:49learned in the last few years, months, and especially the last few days, it's that we don't want that.

00:54Look, the American people deserve to have their elected president be able to install his chosen

01:00personnel in his administration. So here's what I think needs to happen. The Senate should not take

01:07this recess unless or until such time as it clears the backlog. Now, it can either stay and get the job

01:14done in the Senate, or if it insists on taking its traditional August recess, then it needs to actually

01:20take a recess, and take a recess in a way that will allow the president to exercise his recess

01:26appointment power under the Constitution. You can't have it both ways. If you agree with this message,

01:32and if you don't want the deep state running our federal agencies and departments in Washington,

01:36tell your senators, clear the confirmation backlog. Thank you.