Get the Cabinet seated

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden has six members of the Cabinet confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office.

He needs the rest of them. Now! Or at the very least as soon as is humanly possible, given the other thing that is occupying senators’ minds right now. That would be the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

I want the Senate to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection. To my way of thinking, it won’t take much time for House impeachment managers to make the case that Trump’s ghastly rhetoric on Jan. 6 ignited the riot that swarmed over Capitol Hill and could have disrupted the constitutional process of certifying the election that Biden won.

The Senate, though, can multi-task. It can hear evidence for half a day and then spend the other half considering Cabinet nominees and then voting on them.

President Biden was denied a smooth transition from Trump’s team. Trump get yammering about vote fraud that didn’t exist. He challenged the results of a free and fair election.

To be sure the president is moving rapidly on the pandemic front and in trying to get relief for millions of Americans affected by the killer virus. However, he needs an entire team suited up and  ready to implement presidential policy.

That requires the Senate to confirm them. The attorney general nominee, Merrick Garland, deserves a hearing … to state the most glaring vacancy still needing to be filled.

Joe Biden needs to be able to govern effectively and with clarity. He needs the executive branch of government to run with maximum efficiency.