TAKE ON: PART 4/4

4. TAKE BACK

It's likely there will be no shortage of issues you’ll want to address in the Trump administration. Did you know that the hearing for confirmation of the Presidential nominees start today, January 10, 2017 … 2 today and 4 tomorrow… allotting only 2 hours for questioning each nominee?

Most of Trump’s nominees have not been vetted yet by The Office of Government Ethics as required, or completed an FBI background check (required) or submitted financial disclosure forms as legally required.

All these documents should have been submitted and evaluated before these hearings take place, yet Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insists upon holding the hearing NOW and “finishing the paperwork” later.

Click on the link below to read the letter the Office of Government Ethics wrote to Senators Warren and Schumer articulating that office’s concerns:

http://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?embed=true&id=3255189-Response-to-Senators-Schumer-and-Warren-Schumer

Mitch McConnell has accused the Democrats of ‘politicizing’ the process by arbitrarily attempting to delay Trump’s appointments, and cites that President Obama’s candidates in both terms were appointed without any such delay… that the Democrats need to “grow up” and accept the fact that they lost the election. 

Obama’s candidates did clear the hearings quickly because they were all properly vetted and cleared well before the nomination hearing dates were set. 

In fact, on February 12, 2009, then Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote to the Democratic Leader Harry Reid listing - and insisting -   the “best practices” of the nominating process that had to be met “before considering any time agreements on the floor for any nominee”.

Yesterday (January 9^th) Senator Schumer produced that letter, read it on the floor of the Congress, changed the ‘to’ and ‘from’ lines delivered McConnell’s letter back to him, remarking that all the Democrats want is what the Republicans wanted -  and got- in 2009.

Here’s the letter:

https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/818544880658108416

Isn’t it obvious that the confirmation hearings should be delayed until the nominees have completed and cleared the legal requirements for consideration for the job? 

What serious applicant for any position anywhere would show up to a job interview without a proper resume – much less when the interview is for one of the most powerful positions on the planet? 

How could anyone purporting to represent ME (and you) set up such a shoddy, slapdash interview process and claim with a straight face to be acting in MY (and your) best interests?  

Certainly this issue worthy of 3 phone calls and 15 minutes of your time (and mine).  Today’s the day….let’s do it!

Also, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump’s Attorney General nominee is supposed to be interviewed today. I believe he is just about the worst candidate for the job. If you know enough about him to have an opinion, then make another round of calls (remember, one issue at a time )and express yourself.

There will be a fuller discussion of Senator Sessions in the next post, but here are some articles you might want to read until then:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jeff-sessions-omits-decades-of-records-for-his-ag-confirmation-hearing/ar-BBxJP47?li=BBnb7Kz

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/08/opinion/jeff-sessions-the-grim-reaper-of-alabama.html?ribbon-ad-idx=5&rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article

Whatever happens today, tomorrow, etc., know that if you speak up, thousands of people are speaking up right along with you … so last - but never least - TAKE HEART.

MY NEXT POST IS IN THE WORKS