Senate Republicans are ready to “go nuclear” this week after failing to reach a deal with Democrats to clear a backlog of some 150 of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
Majority Leader John Thune filed a resolution Monday to simultaneously confirm 48 bipartisan executive branch nominees, paving the way for a Thursday vote. Republicans expect it to fail since it will be subject to 60 votes, at which point they will move to overrule the chair and invoke cloture on Thune’s resolution at a majority threshold instead.
If that’s successful, Republicans will be able to start confirming most of the president’s executive branch nominees in groups. They plan to confirm this first batch of nominees next Wednesday and clear the entire nomination backlog before a mid-October recess.
The first group includes low- and mid-level nominees — including the nominations of Kimberly Guilfoyle (Donald Trump Jr.’s ex-girlfriend) and Callista Gingrich (former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s wife) as ambassadors to Greece and Switzerland, respectively. Cabinet nominees and federal judges would not be eligible for group confirmations under the new precedent, Republicans say.
In a floor speech Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso will argue the updated process will apply to positions “that in the past never required independent Senate floor action.”
“America needs these men and women working — not stuck in a procedural traffic jam,” Barrasso will say, according to excerpts shared exclusively with Inside Congress.
Democrats are effectively powerless to prevent the rule changes if nearly all GOP senators stick together — and their objections have been relatively muted as they deal with the upcoming shutdown and other political distractions.
It’s a change from the pitched battles around past fights over confirmation rules for judges and executive branch nominees that left a bitter cloud over the chamber.
About the strongest warning came from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who told Republicans Monday, “If you go nuclear, it’s going to be a decision you will come to regret.”
Schumer’s comments serve as a reminder that turnabout will be fair play under a Democratic president with a Democratic Senate majority. But that’s a reality Republicans seem willing to accept.
“You always think about when the shoe is on the other foot, and that is ultimately going to happen at some point,” Barrasso told reporters last week. “But we’re trying to get back to the way this has been previously.”
What else we’re watching:
— Developments in shutdown talks: Top appropriators huddled this week in the first bipartisan, bicameral meeting in pursuit of a government funding deal ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.
— House to consider NDAA: The House will vote to begin consideration of the annual defense authorization bill at 1:30 p.m. It ran into an unexpected hiccup in Rules Monday night regarding amendments dealing with foreign aid and federal recognition of the Lumbee tribe.
Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
