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In a letter, the Democratic leader said members of his party would work with Republicans to consider the president-elect’s nominees — but asserted they should undergo traditional Senate vetting.
Dec. 2, 2024, 5:02 a.m. ET
The top Senate Democrat offered on Monday to cooperate with Republicans next year in considering President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choices for his cabinet and other top administration jobs, and called for the G.O.P. to adhere to traditional Senate vetting standards that Mr. Trump has threatened to skip.
In a letter to Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican who is set to become majority leader in January, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the current leader, said that he and his colleagues “stand ready and willing to work” with Senate Republicans in considering the nominations, several of which have already proved to be explosive. The latest was announced on Saturday, when Mr. Trump disclosed that he intended to name Kash Patel, a loyalist and right-wing provocateur, as director of the F.B.I.
“In particular,” Mr. Schumer wrote to Mr. Thune, “we commit to working in a bipartisan fashion to process each nominee by reviewing standard F.B.I. background-investigation materials, scheduling hearings and markups in the committees of jurisdiction, and considering nominees on the Senate floor.”
The letter comes as Mr. Trump has threatened to skirt the Senate and install some of his nominees during recesses, and some Senate Republicans have suggested that he should do so to get around resistance from Democrats. The president-elect’s advisers have also suggested that he should skip F.B.I. background checks for his nominees in favor of vetting by private security firms, a notion that some Senate Republicans have also embraced in recent days.
Both ideas have met resistance from some Republicans and Democrats who contend that they would constitute an abandonment of the Senate’s constitutional role of providing advice and consent on nominees. They worry that it would harm the institution and weaken the Senate’s ability to provide oversight of federal agencies.
In his letter, Mr. Schumer urged Republicans not to let that happen.
“In our system of checks and balances, this Senate plays a vital role in ensuring the president appoints well-qualified public officials that will dutifully serve the American people and honor their oaths to the Constitution,” Mr. Schumer wrote. “Regardless of party, the Senate has upheld this sacred duty for generations and we should not and must not waver in our constitutional duty.”
