WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor on Monday regarding nominations:
“Last week, Senate Democrats backtracked on plans to confirm Dale Ho to the Southern District of New York.
“Apparently, our colleagues didn’t yet have enough votes for the self-described ‘wild-eyed leftist’ President Biden would like to give a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.
“I’ve talked about Mr. Ho’s criticism of the Fraternal Order of the Police and his history of attacking our colleagues on Twitter. I’ve discussed his apparent dismay that fidelity to the Constitution as it was written doesn’t reliably produce ‘progressive’ outcomes.
“But as you might expect, the rap sheet on a nominee too radical for Senate Democrats goes on. Mr. Ho has also vocally opposed laws that ban ballot harvesting. And he’s railed against commonsense voter I.D. requirements that 80% of Americans support.
“Senate Democrats will have to think hard about whether they’re ready to ram Mr. Ho’s nomination through, after all. But in the meantime, two more of President Biden’s left-wing nominees are up for a vote this week.
“First is Hernán Vera, nominated to the bench in the Central District of California. Mr. Vera’s nomination comes with the ringing endorsement of the left’s dark money operation. And a review of his record shows why.
“Throughout his legal career, Mr. Vera has made no effort to hide his willingness to pick progressive activism over the rule of law. He’s asserted publicly that the need for greater security at our southern border is a ‘myth’, and supported efforts to prevent ICE from conducting enforcement operations in county jails.
“In other words, Mr. Vera doesn’t just oppose enforcing immigration laws. He opposes enforcing the laws illegal immigrants have broken after they’ve arrived!
“The Senate will also vote this week on the nomination of Patrick Pitts to the Northern District of California.
“Mr. Pitts helped organize student protests against military recruiters on campus when he was at Yale. But he publicly fawned over a leftist judge who later faced a reckoning over his decades of sexual harassment.
“Apparently, the Army was unseemly, but a notorious harasser was ‘an inspiration’!
“And aside from being a bad judge of character, Mr. Pitts has spent his legal career making life easier for Democrats’ Big Labor allies. He’s worked to give union bosses more political influence over American workers, especially those who would rather be free from union thuggery.
“So I will oppose each of these nominations, and I urge each of my colleagues to do the same.”