Senate Republicans are advancing plans to change chamber procedures to allow a large group of President Donald Trump’s lower-level nominees to be confirmed in a single, "en bloc" vote, a maneuver party leaders say could clear a growing backlog of appointments without resorting to a full rules overhaul.
Republicans say the proposal revives elements of legislation first put forward by Democrats in 2023 and could be implemented before lawmakers leave for a weeklong recess beginning Sept. 22. The Senate calendar contained 149 presidential nominations awaiting confirmation this week, party leaders said, many of which have not received voice votes or unanimous consent — fast-track procedures traditionally used for sub-Cabinet positions.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other senior Republicans have pushed for changes to return to a practice they say was long used by both parties: packaging lower-level nominees together for a single vote. "This is the first president in history who, at this point in his presidency, hasn’t had at least one nominee clear by unanimous consent or voice vote," Thune said, calling the current situation "unprecedented."
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the GOP prefers the en bloc approach because it mirrors a Democratic idea and could stave off a more dramatic rules change that would require only a simple majority to alter debate or confirmation processes. "The Democrats should support it, because it was their original proposal that we're continuing on," Barrasso said.
Republicans met privately throughout the week to discuss the mechanics of their plan, including whether to limit the number of nominees grouped together or to exclude judicial nominees from any en bloc package. Some senators, including James Lankford, R-Okla., said they discussed the issue with Democratic colleagues and heard private acknowledgments that the current blockade of lower-level nominees has created an unsustainable precedent.
"Some of my colleagues have said, ‘We're not the ones going nuclear. They're the ones that are going nuclear,’" Lankford said, characterizing the stalemate in partisan terms while arguing for a procedural fix.
The proposal traces to a bill introduced in 2023 by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Angus King, I-Maine, and the late Ben Cardin, D-Md., which Republicans said they are adapting for their own purposes. Klobuchar said she appreciated work done with Lankford on reforms "to make the Senate better" but emphasized that her 2023 effort was intended to pass as bipartisan legislation, not as a unilateral rules change.
Republicans have expressed a preference to avoid the so-called "nuclear option," a move that would change Senate rules by a simple majority and has been used in recent years to limit debate on nominations. The last major invocation occurred in 2019, when then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., curtailed debate time on nominees. But GOP leaders say they are prepared to take that step if Democrats refuse to allow any procedural accommodation.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., one of the more moderate voices within his caucus on the nominations fight, said administrations should be afforded routine consideration of lower-level nominees and that wholesale obstruction is unhelpful. "I just think that's kind of unhelpful to just move forward," Fetterman said, while also noting that senators can and should oppose higher-profile picks they find objectionable.
A senior GOP aide familiar with negotiations said some Democrats privately support the Republicans' discussions but are reluctant to publicly endorse a move that would defy their progressive base. Senate Democrats have not settled on a public response, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office did not immediately comment.
If Republicans press forward, the change would affect how a range of sub-Cabinet appointments are handled, potentially speeding confirmations for career and political appointees who have sat in limbo since early in the administration. So far, only a handful of Mr. Trump's nominees have cleared the Senate by voice vote or unanimous consent; Secretary of State Marco Rubio's confirmation in January was among the few confirmations completed with relative ease.
The immediate legislative timetable gives the GOP a target: adopt a procedure before the Senate adjourns for its short September recess. Whether the parties can craft a bipartisan mechanism or whether the dispute will escalate to a formal rules change remains the central question for the coming weeks.
Fox News Digital reported on the discussions and quotes from Republican leaders. The evolving negotiation highlights tensions between long-standing Senate practices and the partisan pressures shaping confirmations in the current Congress.