2 days Ago
In Oklahoma and other states, there are good examples of U.S. senators taking principled action to benefit the country over their party's interest.
While some use their office to perform for their most extreme constituents, these senators' willingness to put country first recognizes the gravity of working in the country’s highest legislative office and exemplifies the dignity that the body should represent. On the Democratic side, Sens. Joe Manchin (West Virginia) and Kirsten Sinema (Arizona), who are both now leaving the Senate, bucked their party to prevent the elimination of the filibuster — a key, albeit currently abused, privilege to encourage debate.
On the Republican side, our own Sen. James Lankford attempted this year to resolve the crisis at our southern border by enacting important, sustainable changes and providing needed resources. People are also reading.
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Now, as the new administration assumes power, I hope and trust that our senators will continue to act with principle, protecting the best interests of the country even when it conflicts with their party's demands. Recently, President-elect Donald Trump proposed that the Senate allow his Cabinet picks to take their positions without Senate advice and consent. Notwithstanding the president-elect's desire to avoid rigorous questioning of his picks, the U.
S. Constitution requires that they be submitted for Senate review. A Cabinet nominee who cannot withstand Senate scrutiny cannot be an effective officer of the United States.
Most importantly, a Senate that foregoes its duty to review the president's choices relinquishes its oversight of the president and risks becoming nothing more than a body to carry out the president's orders. We all know that neither the president nor his Cabinet officials are the law. The law is the Constitution, including the separation of powers, the laws and the American people.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a president's immunity, the justices specifically said a president's direction to his attorney general was always immune from prosecution.
This ruling makes it especially important that the Senate carefully question and scrutinize the president's pick for that office, as well as the offices of national intelligence director, the CIA director and other important offices. Regardless of one's immediate reaction to the president's selections, the Senate is one of the most important guardrails against a president who makes terrible mistakes or seeks to undermine the Constitution. It is the constitutional protection against authoritarianism, and its advice and consent to the president's Cabinet choices are a key part of this role.
I trust that Oklahoma's U.S. senators will take this responsibility with the seriousness the country requires.
I appreciate their service to the country in ensuring that our checks and balances work as the founders intended..
