Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced plans to change chamber rules to expedite confirmation votes for dozens of President Donald Trump’s executive-branch nominees, saying Republicans will begin the process when the Senate returns to session Monday afternoon and that a final vote could come later this week.
Thune, writing in an op-ed published Monday on Breitbart.com, said the move is intended to "return to the Senate’s traditional confirmation process" after what he described as an "unprecedented blockade" by Senate Democrats, who have objected to nearly every one of Trump’s nominees and forced time-consuming procedural votes.
Republican leaders said the primary option under consideration would permit votes on large groups of executive-branch nominees at once if a majority of senators agree, shortening the current process under which a single senator’s objection can trigger repeated roll calls and extended debate. The proposed change would apply only to executive-branch nominations and is expected to exclude lifetime judicial appointments and high-profile positions that traditionally receive extended debate, including Cabinet nominees.
GOP senators said the rule change would allow them to confirm more than 100 pending nominees as soon as this week, filling vacancies that party leaders have said are hampering administration operations. The process to modify the rules will require several floor votes and the support of a simple majority — at least 51 of the chamber’s 53 Republican senators — though most GOP senators have signaled support.
Democrats criticized the plan as a weakening of the Senate’s advice-and-consent role. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said last week the Republicans’ proposal “guts the Senate’s constitutional role of advice and consent, weakens our checks and balances, and guarantees that historically bad nominees will only get worse with even less oversight.” Democrats also warned the change could complicate bipartisan cooperation on upcoming spending bills and other legislation for which Republicans will need Democratic votes.
Republicans have weighed rule changes since early August, when negotiations over the confirmation process collapsed and the Senate recessed for a month. The standoff followed a pattern of escalating obstruction by both parties in recent years, with each side incrementally altering Senate rules to blunt the minority’s ability to block nominees. In 2013, Democrats removed the 60-vote threshold for executive-branch and lower-court judicial nominees amid battles over President Barack Obama’s picks. In 2017, Republicans similarly eliminated the 60-vote requirement for Supreme Court nominations during the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Thune and other Republicans said Democrats’ strategy in this instance has been more sweeping than past objections. Thune wrote that Democrats have made Trump the first president on record to have no nominee confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent, forcing roll-call votes even on relatively noncontroversial candidates who ultimately win broad bipartisan support.
The tension over confirmations turned public in early August after negotiations between the parties broke down. President Trump posted a message on social media telling Schumer to “GO TO HELL!” following the impasse, according to accounts of the exchange.
Republican leaders have indicated that even if the rules are changed, some particularly contentious nominees would remain subject to standard procedures and extended debate. The effort is focused on filling executive-branch vacancies quickly rather than altering the treatment of lifetime judicial nominees. Lawmakers and aides cautioned that the precise scope of any exclusions would be determined during the floor process and could change as senators negotiate the measure.
The coming days are likely to test Senate dynamics as Republicans move to assert control over the confirmation calendar while Democrats seek to preserve deliberative checks on executive appointments. If the rules change is approved, it would mark the latest chapter in a decade-long shift in Senate practices that has lowered the threshold for advancing presidential nominees and narrowed the minority’s leverage over confirmations.