Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday it is essential that President-elect Donald Trump initiate FBI background checks on his nominees.
“We require these background checks of DEA agents — drug enforcement agents. We require them of first-time prosecutors for the federal government. Why wouldn’t we get these background checks for the most important jobs in the United States government?” Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Trump largely finished his major picks with a string of choices Friday and the selection of Brooke Rollins for Agriculture on Saturday. Republican senators have enough votes to approve any Cabinet member without Democratic support, she emphasized, meaning any delay in confirmation would be due to Republican disagreement.
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“In the end, it’s going to be the Republicans in the U.S. Senate, their decision about whether they want to put these people in place,” Klobuchar said.
She added later: “They’ve got to get their background checks together, they’ve got to get qualified nominees and then we’re interested in doing the work of the American people.”
Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, who appeared on ABC’s “This Week” before Klobuchar, said the emphasis on FBI background checks was overstated.
“I don’t think the American public cares who does the background checks,” he said Sunday to host Jonathan Karl. “What the American public cares about is to see the mandate that they voted in delivered upon.”
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When asked if that means he wants to do away with background checks entirely, Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said: “I have been through it myself, I have been through it myself. I have been through confirmation as well. They need to do these checks expeditiously. The FBI, I think the American public’s got great concern about how weaponized it’s become. They need to get on with this; we’ll get this done.”
Other senators, including some Republicans like North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, said “they believe they need the background checks to make decisions,” Klobuchar said.
“I think a number of them both publicly and privately have said that they will not go along with that. So I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she said.
If a delay in confirmation takes place, or is likely to take place, some believe that Trump might bypass the Senate and do recess appointments.
“Senator [John] Thune, the incoming leader on the Republican side,” Klobuchar pointed out, made it “very clear that [Republicans] don’t have a vote to ram through people during these recess appointments because in the end, it is the Republicans that are going to have to make a decision if these people are qualified for these jobs.”
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