Senate Republicans on Thursday advanced the first procedural steps to change chamber rules that would make it easier to confirm groups of President Donald Trump’s nominees, a last-resort move after bipartisan negotiations with Democrats fell apart.
The Senate voted along party lines, 45-53, to resume a series of procedural actions that would allow Republicans to alter the confirmations process and permit votes on groups of as many as 48 nominees at a time. The change would apply to many undersecretaries, agency staff positions and several ambassadors, but would stop short of accelerating floor votes on Cabinet-level posts and lifetime judgeships. Republicans said, if all goes to plan, the first tranche of grouped confirmations could be held as soon as next Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., framed the move as an effort to restore what he described as the Senate’s longstanding practice of expeditious confirmations, saying Democratic obstruction had become "unsustainable." He pressed Democrats on the floor, asking, "How much time is enough?" as he moved to resume votes.
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of trying to "rubber stamp" the White House’s picks and warned they would "come to regret" the change. Schumer said Democrats were drawing out the process because many of the nominees the White House has submitted were "historically bad," and argued the Senate has a duty to scrutinize and debate nominees for sensitive positions.
Negotiations between the two parties continued Thursday into the afternoon, with Democrats proposing a compromise that would have limited grouped votes to 15 nominees and shortened debate time. Senate negotiators, including Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who led discussions, said talks had been "achingly close" in some respects but ultimately failed. After delaying votes for nearly five hours, Republicans abandoned the talks and proceeded with their original plan.
The procedural sequence Republicans invoked includes an "appeal the chair" maneuver that can change how the chamber handles nominations with a simple majority. Republicans must complete additional procedural steps next week to finalize the rule change. If successful, majority leaders could bundle and clear dozens of nominees in larger batches than current practice allows.
The move underscores how both parties have, over the past dozen years, incrementally altered Senate norms and rules governing the filibuster and confirmation processes. Democrats in 2013 eliminated the 60-vote requirement for most executive-branch and lower-court judicial nominees when they controlled the Senate. Republicans later extended that change to Supreme Court nominees in 2017 amid the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Schumer and other Democrats warned that further changes would further weaken minority-party protections and centralize confirmation power with the majority. "What Republicans have done is chip away at the Senate even more, to give Donald Trump more power and to rubber stamp whomever he wants, whenever he wants them, no questions asked," Schumer said on the floor.
Senate Republicans argued the changes are a response to what they cast as unprecedented obstruction by Democrats, who they say have blocked more nominees than usual since Mr. Trump took office and their voters have pushed for resistance. Republicans said many administration posts have remained unfilled, hampering agency operations.
The flashpoint follows months of friction over confirmations that intensified after the Senate’s August recess. Party leaders engaged in talks throughout that period but failed to reach an agreement acceptable to both sides. The partisan vote Thursday marked the first time in recent memory the minority party did not permit at least some expedited confirmations when in opposition, a shift Democrats said reflected an unprecedented willingness by Republicans to move unilaterally.
If Republicans complete their planned rule changes next week, the practical effect would be to allow the majority to clear sizable batches of rank-and-file administration nominees more quickly, reducing the minority’s leverage on broad swaths of the executive branch. The change would not immediately alter confirmation procedures for Cabinet members and lifetime federal judges, which remain politically sensitive and could provoke additional opposition.
Both parties have pointed to recent precedent when warning of potential consequences. Schumer echoed earlier Democratic warnings issued when Republicans used similar tactics in previous years, while GOP leaders have referenced past Democratic limits on confirmations as the basis for their own push to change the rules now.
Senate leaders said additional procedural votes will be scheduled next week to complete the rule-change process. The outcome will determine whether hundreds of sub-Cabinet and agency positions in Mr. Trump’s administration can be confirmed in larger, grouped votes and on an accelerated timeline.