Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said Wednesday that it’s time for her Republican colleagues to “get on with it” and do their jobs by holding a hearing on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

“The idea that we should not do this in an election year is just something that’s been made up for partisan reasons,” Shaheen said outside a federal courthouse in the capital.

She called Republican leadership’s refusal to hold a hearing or vote on Merrick Garland’s nomination a “response to the most extreme voices that we’re hearing in the country right now.”

In Washington on Wednesday, Garland traveled to the Capitol to meet with two Democratic senators — Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Al Franken of Minnesota. Among Republicans, only Kirk and Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Jerry Moran of Kansas have called for a hearing. At least 15 Republicans have said they are willing to meet with him.

Shaheen’s renewed pressure on her GOP colleagues came a day after Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois became the first Republican to meet with Garland and after the high court deadlocked 4-4 on a labor case. Shaheen said Republicans are not following their oaths of office and encouraged the public to contact their senators to change their positions. Democrats view the Supreme Court fight as a winning issue heading into the November elections, when the party hopes to regain control of the Senate.

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte is locked in one of the Senate’s most high-profile races against popular Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan. Shaheen largely avoided direct criticism of Ayotte, saying the two haven’t spoken directly about Garland’s nomination, but she did say election-year politics are no excuse to keep the court seat vacant.

Ayotte plans to meet with Garland after initially saying she would not, but she has not called for hearings.

“When we took the oath of office it didn’t say ‘I will defend and protect the Constitution in only non-election years,'” Shaheen said. “Should we say anytime there’s an election year for a senator we’re not supposed to act on votes that may be controversial?”

She said her remarks are “aimed at everybody who is refusing to consider a nominee in an election year,” and specifically targeted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Shaheen was joined by former New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice John Broderick, a well-known Democrat, who called it unnecessary to leave a court seat vacant until after the election.

(AP)