Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he will grant floor votes for Biden’s nominees.
“They [Biden’s nominees] aren’t all going to pass on a voice vote, and they aren’t all going to make it, but I will put them on the floor,” he told Scott Jennings, an opinion contributor for Louisville Courier-Journal.
McConnell criticized the Democrats for treating President Donald Trump’s nominees badly and vowed he will not do the same to Biden’s nominees.
“Well, first of all, I am going to treat him a hell of a lot better than Chuck Schumer ever treated Donald Trump,” he told Jennings.
McConnell’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Several of Biden’s nominees are likely to draw ire from the Republican side. One is Neera Tanden, a partisan Democratic operative who was nominated as the director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. Biden’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, may also have a hard time getting through the Senate because of his pro-abortion record.
Some of Biden’s potential nominees will also likely not be treated friendly if they’re nominated. Those on the list include Bob Iger, the chairman of Disney and Biden’s potential pick for the position of China ambassador, who could be challenged for his close ties with China. Biden’s pick for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had also expressed support for abandoning Taiwan in exchange for writing off Chinese-held U.S. debt.
Tony Blinken, Biden’s potential State Secretary pick, could also be grilled by the Senate Republicans for his globalist background.
McConnell, a top Republican and former Trump ally, said on Dec. 15 during a floor speech that Biden is the victor of the presidential contest despite the midst of allegations of election fraud and other irregularities.
“I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” he said as he opened the Senate. “Our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Electoral College has spoken.”
After McConnell’s remarks, Trump called on him to keep fighting.
“Mitch, 75,000,000 VOTES, a record for a sitting President (by a lot). Too soon to give up. Republican Party must finally learn to fight. People are angry!” Trump wrote on Twitter to McConnell as he posted a Daily Mail article that included critical comments about the longtime Kentucky senator.
Currently, all states have certified the November election results and the electors have cast their votes. Congress is set to count the electoral votes on Jan. 6. Several U.S. House and Senate members have voiced willingness to challenge the electoral votes during the Jan. 6 meeting.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has several pending legal cases in the battleground states challenging the election results.
Jack Phillips contributed to the report.
