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Oklahoma Representative James Bridenstine, a Navy Reserve pilot, was confirmed as NASA's 13th administrator on Thursday.
In a 50-49 vote Thursday, Oklahoma Representative James Bridenstine, a Navy Reserve pilot, was confirmed as NASA's 13th administrator, an agency that usually is kept away from partisanship. His three predecessors — two nominated by Republicans — were all approved unanimously. Before that, one NASA chief served under three presidents, two Republicans and a Democrat.
The two days of voting were as tense as a launch countdown.
A procedural vote Wednesday initially ended in a 49-49 tie — Vice President Mike Pence, who normally breaks a tie, was at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida — before Arizona Republican Jeff Flake switched from opposition to support, using his vote as leverage to address an unrelated issue.
Thursday's vote included the drama of another delayed but approving vote by Flake, a last-minute no vote by Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth — who wheeled onto the floor with her 10-day-old baby in tow — and the possibility of a tie-breaker by Pence, who was back in town.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @10:45PM (2 children)
There are 9 years worth of nominations waiting.
Why would Trump bother putting more on the pile?
Why would a potential nominee accept a nomination that will be moot, since Trump will have already left office by the time the senate gets to it?
Why would a potential nominee want to promise to serve 9 years or more into the future, sort of putting their career on hold to wait for confirmation?
There is simply no reason to fill out the paperwork or even try to nominate anybody. The only reasonable thing for Trump to do is to get people hired at low positions in the agencies, then fire everybody above them, causing his people to become "acting this" and "acting that".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 21 2018, @05:07PM (1 child)
Yup, those fucking obstructionist Democrats keep blocking Trump's nomin--
...
With friends like these, who needs enemies, eh?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 21 2018, @05:43PM
There are normally a few republicans who hate America. Sometimes we call them RINOs, meaning Republican In Name Only. Sometimes the mirror image of that, a DINO, also exists.
None of this changes the fact that the vote falls almost perfectly on party lines. You can point out one or two RINOs perhaps, but really it is "those fucking obstructionist Democrats".