We've written frequently in recent weeks/months about the brewing battle between the Trump administration and so-called "sanctuary cities" where local police officers are specifically instructed to ignore federal immigration laws. Now, the leftist state of California is considering a new senate bill that would have the entire state become America's first "sanctuary state."
Having already succeeded in delaying the confirmation of Tom Price and Steven Mnuchin, when Democrats boycotted a committee vote which had a minimum quorum requirement, moments ago Senate Democrats succeeded in stalling - if only temporarily - another confirmation when they used a procedural move on Tuesday afternoon to stall committee vote, this time on Jeff Sessions' nomination to become US Attorney General amid last night's controversy in which Trump fired the acting Attorney General Sally Yates for insubordination.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Rex Tillerson’s nomination as secretary of state by a vote of 11-10 - falling along party lines (with Democrats dissenting). As Bloomberg notes, this vote clears the way for the full Senate to confirm one of President Donald Trump’s most critical cabinet choices.
Just hours after President Trump was sworn into office, amid Chuck Schumer's jabs over HUD, the Senate has confirmed retired Marine General James Mattis as defense secretary and retired Marine General John Kelly as homeland security secretary. They were both expected to be confirmed easily, and were, but Democrats promised fights over several other nominees.
Mattis was the first to be confirmed by a vote of 98 to 1... (as The Hill reports)
Early on Thursday morning, in a 51-48 vote, the Senate took the first concrete step toward dismantling Obamacare, when it voted to instruct key committees to draft legislation repealing Barack Obama's signature health insurance program. Republicans needed a simple majority to clear the repeal rules, instructing committees to begin drafting repeal legislation, through the upper chamber, with the vote falling largely along party lines.