Senate GOP Breaks Through Dem ‘Obstruction’ On Trump 2.0 Civilian Nominees

In the face of Democrat resistance, the GOP-led Senate has managed to confirm President Donald Trump’s civilian nominees twice as fast as it did during the first Trump administration.

As of May 15, the upper chamber has confirmed 67 civilian nominees, more than double the 32 civilian nominees the Senate confirmed by the same date in 2017, and it beats the 52 civilian nominees confirmed by May 15 in 2021 during President Joe Biden’s first and only term.

Senate Republicans, who hold a 53-seat majority, have confirmed several nominees this week as the House focuses on putting together Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” The 67th nominee was Sean Donahue, who was confirmed to become the assistant director of the EPA in a 51-46 vote on Thursday.

While the pace may come down to a number of factors, including when Trump is announcing his nominees, Democrats have also sought to slow down the process through various means, including the “blue slip” tradition which allows senators to block home-state judicial nominees.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that he would place a hold on Trump’s political nominees for the Department of Justice (DOJ) until more clarity is given on the president’s controversial plan to receive a roughly $400 million luxury aircraft known as the “Flying Palace” from Qatar.

A hold requires Senate majority leadership to schedule floor votes for nominees, bypassing the faster unanimous consent process that would allow the upper chamber to confirm the president’s picks in batches, and there have been no voice vote confirmations so far this year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said in a floor speech this week that he hoped Democrats would stop their “pointless obstruction” because allowing the upper chamber to confirm nominees would allow lawmakers more room to legislate and spend more time in their states.

“Democrats can drag out nominations all they want, but we’re going to fill out the president’s administration and ensure that his nominees get into place so that … he can do the job that he was elected to do,” Thune said.

The Senate confirmed all of the secretaries in Trump’s second-term Cabinet back in March. Trump withdrew his original pick for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and has since tapped Mike Waltz, who was his national security adviser, to become the nominee.