Mitch McConnell Quotes
The only leverage we [Senators] have with the administration is the power to confirm.
Mitch McConnell, U, S, Senate Minority & Majority Leader
U. S. Senator (Republican, KY), Explanation of he and a few other senators refusing to process the confirmation of Richard C. Holbrooke as United Nations Ambassador unless the Democratic administration would make certain other appointments of Republicans., July 1999Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
From this quotation, {624648} and {615901} it is clear that the framers of the Constitution intended the treaty making powers to be shared by the President and the Senate. In practice, in modern times treaties are usually initially negotiated by diplomats under the supervision of the President and the Senate gets to concur or not in the ratification process. However, there have been a number of treaty failures including the League of Nations where the lack of coordination has resulted in a situation where the Senate had to accept or reject something which the President had negotiated and the Senate rejected the treaty.
Most legislative bodies have rules about when and under what conditions a vote is taken. Amendments, procedures, committees all have procedures where votes may be taken that could defeat a nomination or a proposed law but if those defeats fail, there still is not necessarily a law passed or a nomination confirmed. That has to be a separate vote, often called an “up or down vote.” One parliamentary mechanism for opposing a bill or a nomination is to keep voting on amendments and procedures and never have an up or down vote. This is actually true with the vast majority of the laws proposed in both houses of the Congress. Most never do have an up or down vote. Why Gerhatdt and other ask should judicial nominations be different from any law, or any other presidential nomination? Also see {588517} for another factor.
His main reason for believing this is that all appropriations bills must be initiated by the House of Representatives. Lobbyists therefore often give the House more attention than the Senate.
The United States government had for many years deposited all its funds in a single private bank, the Bank of the United States. President Jackson, without congressional authorization, ordered the Federal deposits to be distributed among state banks instead. The Senate passed a resolution demanding a copy of the "paper" he had read to the cabinet ordering the change of practice:
The issue of how the federal judiciary would be selected was one of the more hotly debated issues during the Constitutional Convention.
McLendon was representing the San Antonio Light and was in part defending the Texas minority leader. But as time would tell, LBJ would be the most powerful and influential speaker in Senate history, even at such a young age.
The "single Senator" was Roscoe Conkling. He was the Republican Party Leader (Boss) and a great proponent of the Spoils System of giving all Federal appointments to loyal party men without regard for competency and merit. See {622341} and {622340} for Hayes’ contest with Conkling.
Periodically in American history, there has been a struggle between the Executive Branch and the Senate for dominance. The Senate’s power is negative however. It can block things, but cannot directly make them happen. The President can do both.
Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. is an American politician, serving since 1985 as United States senator for Kentucky, the senior senator since 1999, and since January 20, 2021, as Senate Minority Leader. He previously served as Senate Majority Leader from 2015 to 2021. He is married to former Secretary of Transportation and former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. In 2015 and 2019, Time listed McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
