Senate Republicans on Thursday voted to change chamber rules in a move that will allow them to expedite confirmation of many of President Donald Trump's executive branch nominees by approving them in groups with a simple majority vote.
The party-line action, often referred to as the "nuclear option," was taken to address a backlog of almost 150 nominees awaiting floor consideration and comes after months of partisan gridlock that Republican leaders say has delayed staffing of the administration. The change will permit the Senate to confirm some presidential nominees en masse rather than individually, although it does not apply to Cabinet officers, federal judges or Supreme Court nominees, who will still face separate roll-call votes.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune began the procedural push Monday by introducing 48 of the president's nominees to be considered as a group, including nominees for departmental posts, the CIA inspector general and several ambassadorships. "Democrats have flat-out broken the Senate confirmation process. We are more than seven months into President Trump's current term, and the Senate has yet to confirm one single civilian nominee by unanimous consent or voice vote," Thune said on the Senate floor on Thursday.
Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso, the chamber's No. 2 Republican, framed the change as a return to an older practice. "For two centuries, most presidential nominees have sailed through this chamber by voice vote and by unanimous consent," Barrasso said. "That was the gold standard of advice and consent. Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats abandoned it. Instead of deliberation, Senate Democrats chose unprecedented delay. That ends now."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the unilateral rule change, saying it would make the confirmation process "a conveyor belt for unqualified Trump nominees." Schumer said the move represented an effort to cede more control to the executive branch rather than end obstruction.
Under Senate rules, the so-called nuclear option allows the majority party to override standing chamber rules by a simple majority vote rather than the supermajority usually required to defeat a filibuster. The tactic has been invoked in recent years by both parties to limit minority-party obstruction of nominations.
Democrats first deployed the maneuver in 2013 to eliminate the filibuster for most executive appointments and many judicial nominations. Republicans later used it in 2017 to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, clearing the way for confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch, and invoked a similar change again two years later to reduce debate for many presidential nominees. When Democrats invoked the change in 2013, then-President Barack Obama said, "I support the step a majority of Senators took today to change the ways of Washington by changing the way Congress does business. This gridlock has not served the cause of justice. In fact it has undermined it."
Supporters of the current change say it will relieve pressure from the backlog of nominees and allow executive agencies to operate with full leadership. Opponents say it weakens minority rights in the Senate and reduces opportunities for bipartisan negotiation over nominees.
The rule change is expected to be finalized next week. Once formalized, Republican leaders plan to proceed to grouped consideration and floor votes on batches of nominees, a process they say will accelerate confirmations that have been stalled during months of partisan division.
The move marks another significant alteration to Senate norms that both parties have used when in the majority to advance their presidents' agendas. It is likely to affect the pace and politics of confirmations for the remainder of the current administration, while keeping high-profile executive branch, judicial and Supreme Court appointments subject to individual roll-call votes as before.