{"id":39336,"date":"2025-02-07T14:06:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T22:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39336"},"modified":"2025-02-07T14:06:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T22:06:39","slug":"this-is-a-start-senate-democrats-hold-floor-overnight-to-protest-vought-nomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/02\/07\/this-is-a-start-senate-democrats-hold-floor-overnight-to-protest-vought-nomination\/","title":{"rendered":"‘This Is a Start’: Senate Democrats Hold Floor Overnight to Protest Vought Nomination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Sen.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) speaks on the floor of the Senate on February 5, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: NBC News Now\/Screengrab)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats “should be blowing past McConnell-level obstruction in a way that makes it look like business as usual,” said one commentator.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JAKE JOHNSON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 06, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats took turns speaking on the floor of the U.S. Senate into the early hours of Thursday morning in a show of opposition to President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the White House budget office and the new administration’s lawless broadside against key federal agencies\u2014an assault led by unelected billionaire Elon Musk.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facing growing pressure<\/a> to use every tool available to obstruct an administration that they have characterized as authoritarian, Democratic senators are expected to take up all 30 hours of debate on Russell Vought, a right-wing extremist and Project 2025 architect who is poised to take charge of the Office of Management and Budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless Democrats give in and grant unanimous consent (UC) to end debate\u2014as they’ve done with other Trump nominees in recent days<\/a>\u2014a vote on Vought’s confirmation won’t take place until Thursday evening. As of this writing, the Democratic speeches are still going<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Americans voted each of us into office to fight for them,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/a> (D-Mass.) said<\/a> after speaking on the Senate floor for an hour late Wednesday. “They do not expect us to roll over and play dead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) used his floor speech to spotlight what he described as Vought’s plan to “gut programs for working families” and “give massive tax giveaways to billionaires.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=e30%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1887273398398599397&lang=en&maxWidth=640px&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fdemocrats-overnight-vought&sessionId=dd0e45b32d11ebd04808abda52e361ff3362abb0&siteScreenName=commondreams&siteUserId=14296273&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For experts and activists who have been urging the minority party to put up a fight in the face of Trump and Musk’s destructive rampage through the federal government, the marathon protest against Vought’s nomination was a positive sign\u2014but not at all sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a start but, to be clear, still nowhere close to maximum obstruction,” Andy Craig, an election policy fellow at the Rainey Center, wrote<\/a> on social media. “No UC, on anything. No unrecorded votes, on anything. No waiving rules, on anything. Fight even on adjournments. Quorum calls every time you can. Make every dilatory motion in the books and new ones you just made up.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you’re not miserable every day with long hours and tedious constant votes, you’re not making them miserable, either,” Craig added. “Make them miserable.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Democrats don’t have the votes in the Senate to tank Trump nominees, they can severely derail the chamber’s day-to-day functions in many ways. The progressive advocacy group Indivisible lists a number of them<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n