Senate Majority Leader John Thune is staring down a confirmation backlog of more than 130 nominees — with President Donald Trump pressing hard for progress this week. Democrats could theoretically help expedite a pre-recess flurry of confirmations, but without more details from Republicans, they are so far holding out.
“There are some that are bipartisan — like, Tim Kaine and I have a great Eastern District of Virginia [U.S.] attorney nominee,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told POLITICO Monday evening. “But [Republicans] also should go and release some of the funds that have already been appropriated that they and [Russ] Vought are holding on to. There has to be some exchange.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) managed to get her own deal during a committee vote last week. The Trump administration committed to distributing $75 million in “lifesaving” global assistance in exchange for the Foreign Relations ranking member’s vote to advance Mike Waltz’s UN ambassador nomination.
Thune’s hoping to strike a deal to fast-track dozens of confirmations through a mix of roll call votes, voice votes and/or unanimous consent requests. But Democrats could force him to file cloture on each nominee, which would in turn force Thune to keep the Senate in session into the weekend — and potentially beyond.
Democratic leaders are keeping all options on the table as they await a proposal from Republicans, one person granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations told POLITICO. Some Democratic senators like Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin aren’t ruling out confirming a tranche of Trump nominees — though they say it depends who they are.
Other Democrats are opposed to any dealmaking at all: “Just to try to help them advance getting more people in office?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told POLITICO. “Why would we do that?”
The unspoken truth: Many Democratic senators want to start their summer break just as badly as their Republican colleagues do.
What else we’re watching:
— Appropriations status: The wheels could be coming off Thune’s plans to assemble an initial “minibus” of fiscal 2026 spending bills. Thune acknowledged to POLITICO that he is still “trying to work off some holds” from senators objecting to bundling the various bills. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) became the latest headache, citing language in the agriculture bill that he said would “destroy” the hemp industry.
— Guardrails on TSA facial recognition: Industry lobbying is threatening the smooth advancement of a bill that would put guardrails on the Transportation Security Administration’s use of facial recognition technology as Senate Commerce prepares to take up the bill Wednesday. It’s causing some consternation among Republicans, who had planned for a straightforward markup of the strongly bipartisan bill sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and several committee Republicans.
— Bove’s confirmation vote: A third whistleblower met with the staff for Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley on Monday to testify against Emil Bove, Trump’s contentious nominee for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Republicans are expected to confirm Bove this week despite the new allegations but haven’t officially locked in a time for the final vote.
Jordain Carney and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.
