FILE PHOTO: Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 9, 2021. Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Brian Schatz said on Monday he would block Senate votes on President Donald Trump's nominees for diplomatic positions in protest over moves to close the U.S. Agency for International Development and fold it into the State Department.
Under the chamber's rules, one senator can hold up nominations even if the other 99 all want them to move quickly, forcing the Senate to consume many hours of floor time to move nominations or promotions ahead.
Trump has said that billionaire Elon Musk has been assigned to cut wasteful spending within the federal government. He has been leading the effort to shut down USAID, while making increasingly harsh and unfounded accusations against it.
USAID provides aid for projects ranging from women's health in conflict zones to access to clean water, energy security and anti-corruption work. It provided 42% of all humanitatrian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024.
On Monday, workers at the agency were told to stay home from work, after reports that hundreds or even thousands of staff had been removed from their jobs.
Schatz was one of several Democratic members of Congress who held a press conference outside the agency to decry what they see as an assault on Washington's primary agency funding billions of dollars' worth of life-saving aid globally.
He told Reuters of his plan, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, before the press conference.
Another Democratic senator, Chris Van Hollen, told reporters after the press conference he would also act to stall State Department nominees.
Slowing nominations or promotions that must be approved by the Senate is one of the few avenues available to members of the minority party to try to influence policy.
Last year, when Democrats held a slim majority in the chamber, Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville blocked hundreds of military promotions over the Defense Department's abortion policy.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Leslie Adler)
