Senate Republicans confirmed more than 100 nominees Tuesday evening, largely clearing the backlog of President Donald Trump’s picks who have been awaiting a floor vote.
The party-line vote comes after Senate Republicans changed the rules last month to allow most executive branch nominees to be confirmed as a group, whereas lawmakers previously had to hold a vote on each one. The change does not include Cabinet picks or judges.
This latest bloc represents the biggest number of nominees Republicans have cleared at once since the rules change. It includes former GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Sergio Gor, ex-director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, to be ambassadors to the Bahamas and India, respectively.
Republicans ultimately deployed the “nuclear option” — meaning a party line rules change — amid growing frustration about the slow pace of confirming Trump nominees amid widespread Democratic opposition.
Republicans briefly debated allowing Donald Trump to make recess appointments, which would let the president bypass the Senate on nominees when the Senate is not in session. So far, Republicans have held back over concerns that it would come back to bite them the next time they are in the minority.
