Of the many ironies in the run-up to the passage of the ‘cromnibus’ spending bill in the Senate was the forwarding of a number of Obama’s key federal nominees that had previously been stalled, reports The Washington Post.
The protest by Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee over the bill gave a critical window to Harry Reid and his Democrat colleagues to advance the nominees while Senators were waiting to vote on the spending bill.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) detailed of the move, “Ted Cruz, by his shenanigans, gave us a wonderful opening to do nominations. People need to get into these positions so they can work. He gave us an opening, and we took it.”
But the nominations still face an uphill battle when Senators return in the new year under Republican control. Among the controversial nominees put forward by Obama are new heads of the DOJ and ICE which Republicans are expected to heavily oppose.
