Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) postponed a Thursday committee vote on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, his office said Wednesday, after two Republican senators withheld support pending written assurances from the Justice Department on a fund tied to President Donald Trump’s IRS settlement. A Judiciary Committee spokesperson said the markup was postponed as work continues to secure the votes to favorably report Blanche, framing the delay as an effort to set the nominee up for success rather than failure. The vote, set for 9 a.m. Thursday, had already been pushed back once from the prior week.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), whose vote Blanche needs to clear committee, canceled a meeting with Blanche on Wednesday and had refused to commit his support. Cornyn told reporters Wednesday that the DOJ had not met his demand for written assurances and that he was not prepared to back the nominee. Cornyn said the fix was simple and that the department was refusing to make it. “They know what they need to do but they simply refuse to do it,” Cornyn said of the Justice Department.
