Senate Republicans said they would press a rules change this week to break a Democratic blockade that has slowed confirmations of President Donald Trump’s nominees, setting up a likely vote on the so-called "nuclear option" as early as Thursday.
Republicans plan to adopt a modified version of a measure that would allow groups of nominees to be confirmed en bloc, a step they say is necessary to clear a growing backlog. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats have refused repeated unanimous-consent and voice-vote requests on dozens of noncontroversial nominees, forcing contested roll-call votes and slowing the confirmation calendar.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., criticized the Democratic tactics and teed up a package of 48 sub-cabinet nominees for a Thursday vote. Thune said Democrats were blocking routine procedures such as voice votes and unanimous consent because of what he called "Trump derangement syndrome" and argued the chamber needed a procedural fix so nominees that had advanced out of committee on a bipartisan basis could be confirmed more efficiently.
"That's got to change," Thune said. "This is a problem the Democrats created, and we intend to fix it." Thune's move followed repeated efforts by Republicans to clear nominees that sponsors and committee votes had deemed noncontroversial.
Schumer and other Senate Democrats have framed their obstruction as leverage to press for changes or concessions in nominee packages and other negotiations. Schumer warned Republicans that altering Senate rules would be a consequential step and urged restraint. "I say to my Republican colleagues to think carefully before taking this step. If you go nuclear, it’s going to be a decision you will come to regret," he said.
Democratic resistance has included blocking unanimous-consent requests this week and last month. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a recent attempt to clear 10 judicial nominees by unanimous consent was rejected by Schumer, calling the Democratic holds a "blanket obstruction" and an effort to score political points. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told Fox News Digital that Republicans have not shown interest in resuming negotiations since they collapsed last month when President Trump intervened in talks and told Schumer to "GO TO HELL" over what Trump described as "egregious and unprecedented" demands for a nominee package.
Republicans plan to advance a modified version of a bill originally offered by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Angus King, I-Maine, and former Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., that would allow nominees to be bundled and confirmed in groups. Some original backers of that measure have said they cannot support its use now to expedite confirmations for the Trump administration.
Sen. King, one of the original co-sponsors, told Fox News Digital he could not support reviving the legislation in a manner that would assist the current president in "stocking the federal government." On the floor Wednesday night, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, attempted to offer the original Klobuchar bill, but Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., objected and proposed an amendment to delay any procedural change until 2029, when Democrats assume the White House would again hold the presidency under the proposed schedule.
Senate Republicans have the parliamentary tools to change chamber rules with a simple majority if they choose to invoke the so-called nuclear option, which has been used in prior years to lower confirmation thresholds for certain categories of nominees. The precise procedural language Republicans plan to adopt would be a modified version of the en bloc confirmation approach, and party leaders said they would move forward if Democrats continued to block routine advancement of nominees.
Democrats retain the option of accepting roll-call votes on the teed-up nominees and thereby avoiding a rules change. Party leaders said such a concession was unlikely this week. If Republicans succeed, the change would alter how quickly the Senate can act on groups of nominees but would not affect filibusters for legislation, which require separate procedural moves.
The dispute adds to partisan tensions in the 100-member chamber over the pace of confirmations and the use of Senate procedures to exert leverage. The vote is expected to occur Thursday; Senate leaders from both parties said they were preparing for the outcome and for further negotiations in the coming days.
As the calendar moves toward the scheduled vote, senators on both sides framed the fight as a test of Senate norms and control over confirmations. Republicans said procedural change was needed to prevent future bottlenecks, while Democrats argued blocking routine approval was the only leverage available to press for changes they view as important. The immediate outcome will be determined by the votes cast on the floor and whether GOP leaders command the simple majority they say is necessary to implement the new process.