Thread: Senate sets date for hearings on Sessions's attorney general nomination

Senate sets date for hearings on Sessions's attorney general nomination

12/09/16 08:13 PM EST



© Victoria Sarno Jordan


The Senate Judiciary Committee will take up Sen. Jeff Sessions's (R-Ala.) attorney general nomination in early January.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the committee, said Friday that the committee will hold its hearings on Sessions's nomination on Jan. 10-11.

"We all know Senator Sessions to be an honorable man who has held public office for more than 20 years," he said in a statement. "I look forward to hearing from him next month.”

The announcement came after Sessions returned a questionnaire to the committee and spoke with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who will be the top Democrat on the committee next year.

Grassley added that committee staffers will "begin reviewing his questionnaire and going through the documents so we’re ready to hold a fair and thorough hearing on Jan. 10."

The two-day hearing is less than the four days Democrats requested in a letter to Grassley.

Eight Democrats on the committee, including Feinstein, noted Sessions has an "extensive record" that the committee needs to examine.

“The committee must devote adequate time to examining those issues,” they wrote. “We urge you to ensure that the nomination process is thorough, transparent, and fair — not just a rubber stamp.”

Grassley's office noted in a release that hearings for the past four attorneys general lasted between one to two days.

Feinstein said in a letter to Grassley the committee didn't still have the documents it needs to hold a hearing for Sessions.

The California Democrat argued his questionnaire isn't complete, including a question requesting copies of speeches.

"In order to have a full and fair process, we must have all the documents responsive to the committee questionnaire," she wrote. "I intend to engage in that process fully ... and urge that we are able to have the time needed to perform our due diligence."

Every Republican on the committee has come out in support of Sessions, but Democrats are pledging that he won't be given a free pass even though he's a member of the Senate.

Democrats, however, will face an uphill bid to block Sessions. Under the 2013 "nuclear" option, Sessions will need only a simple majority to get confirmed.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has already said he will support Sessions.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-actio...neral-hearings

Good. The sooner the better. Let's get Sessions appointed and move on to folks like Pudzer.

Posted By Kerry Picket On 10:50 PM 12/13/2016

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley announced Tuesday that there will be no delay for Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions’ scheduled confirmation hearing on January 10.

Democrats in the upper chamber appear ready to put up a fight against Sessions, Trump’s choice for attorney general and an outspoken critic of President Obama’s immigration policies. But Grassley made it clear that any calls to postpone the hearing over research materials would not be tolerated.

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who will be the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee next Congress, pointed out in a letter to Grassley Friday that documents sent by Sessions to the committee regarding his work history, public speeches and other items to be pored over by senators totaled over 150,000 pages.

“This is more than 100 times what Attorney General [Loretta] Lynch produced (1,500 pages) and more than 29 times what [former] Attorney General [Eric] Holder produced (5,100 pages),” Feinstein wrote in a letter to Grassley.

She added, “I am sure you would agree that staff must have sufficient time to do the due diligence on any nominee for this vital position—and this due diligence will likely take longer than the review for recent, prior nominees who had less materials to analyze.”

“As the committee members know, Attorney General Holder supplemented his questionnaire multiple times with, literally, hundreds of additions and clarifications, including one update more than a year after he was confirmed. And, most importantly, his hearing remained on schedule.”

Grassley responded to Feinstein’s complaint in his Tuesday statement:

“The materials provided to the committee by Senator Sessions are in large part public documents that anyone can find on his official Senate website. It’s information that’s been publicly available, in some instances, for twenty years. In fact, only a small percentage of the material was not already publicly available,” Grassley said Tuesday night.

He went on to say, “As the committee members know, Attorney General Holder supplemented his questionnaire multiple times with, literally, hundreds of additions and clarifications, including one update more than a year after he was confirmed. And, most importantly, his hearing remained on schedule.”

He concluded, “So, any suggestion that a nominee’s good faith efforts to locate and produce responsive material is cause for delay begins to look like a call for delay for delay’s sake, rather than a thorough review of a colleague’s character and qualifications. I look forward to hearing from Senator Sessions on Jan. 10.”

http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/13/gr...-as-scheduled/