WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans are ready to change the chamber鈥檚 rules to allow quick confirmations of dozens of President Donald Trump鈥檚 executive branch nominees, moving to speed up votes after months of Democratic delays.
Thune said Monday that he鈥檒l start the process of changing the rules this week, with a final vote likely coming as soon as next week. Opening the Senate, Thune said Democrats’ obstruction of nominees is unsustainable.
If the delays continue, Thune said, 鈥渢here is no practical way that we could come close to filling all the vacancies in the four years of this administration no matter how many hours the Senate works.鈥
Republicans have been talking about options for changing the rules since early August, when the Senate left for a monthlong recess after a . Democrats have blocked nearly every single one of Trump鈥檚 nominees, forcing majority Republicans to spend valuable floor time on procedural votes and leaving many positions in the executive branch unfilled.
The changes come after both parties have escalated their obstruction of the other party鈥檚 nominees for years, and as leaders in both parties have incrementally changed the rules to make the process less bipartisan. The proposal to group nominations is loosely based on legislation introduced by Democrats two years ago as Republicans blocked many of then-President Joe Biden鈥檚 picks.
But while Senate Republicans forced similar delays during Biden鈥檚 administration, Democrats have blocked almost all of Trump鈥檚 nominations. It鈥檚 the first time in recent history that the minority party hasn鈥檛 allowed at least some quick confirmations.
Thune called it a drawn out 鈥渢emper tantrum鈥 by Democrats over Trump’s election.
鈥淚t’s time to take steps to restore Senate precedent and codify in the Senate rules what was once understood to be standard practice, and that is the Senate acting expeditiously on presidential nominations to allow a president to get his team into place.鈥
The delays have infuriated Trump, who told Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to 鈥淕O TO HELL!鈥 in a social media post after negotiations broke down over the process in early August.
Republicans are still working on some of the details of the rules change, but Thune said the Republican proposal to be voted on in the coming days or weeks would allow the Senate to vote on 鈥済roups of nominees all together.” It would only apply to executive branch nominations, not lifetime judicial appointments, and would exclude the most high-profile positions, such as Cabinet nominees, that require a longer debate time.
Currently, one senator鈥檚 objection can force days of votes on a single nominee.
If Republicans act quickly, they could confirm more than 100 of Trump鈥檚 pending nominations this month. The process to change the rules will likely require several floor votes and the support of a simple majority, so at least 51 out of the chamber鈥檚 53 Republicans. But most GOP senators appear to be on board.
The change will be the latest salvo in years of intensifying standoffs over presidential nominations. In 2013, Democrats for executive branch and lower court judicial nominees to remove the 60-vote threshold for confirmations as Republicans blocked President Barack Obama鈥檚 picks. In 2017, as Democrats tried to block Trump鈥檚 nomination of Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Democrats have said the rules change would be a mistake, especially as Senate Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass spending bills and other legislation moving forward.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said last week that Republicans鈥 proposed plan 鈥済uts the Senate鈥檚 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.鈥
