Senate Republicans are coalescing around a plan that would allow them to confirm scores of President Trump’s nominees in batches in the coming weeks as they look to skirt the nomination blockade put up by Democrats.
Republicans indicated Wednesday they are prepared to move quickly on a proposal to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” to change the Senate rules and allow lawmakers to confirm with a single vote 10 or more nominees who received bipartisan support in the same committee. They are also examining options to bypass the extensive floor consideration the nominations currently require.
While the decision is not final and details are still being ironed out, Republicans are overwhelmingly moving in this direction. The conference huddled for its weekly policy luncheon Wednesday, which was combined with a special meeting to discuss the future of nominations.
“I think everybody’s pretty united in moving forward, and actually moving forward pretty quickly,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who is part of a working group that has been attempting to find a remedy to the issue. “‘En bloc’ is definitely top of the list.”
“I think we’re coalescing around a proposal to be able to move a number of nominees who … either have bipartisan votes or those positions have just never been objected to like they’re being objected to, so we want to move forward,” he continued.
The proposal is based on one Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) rolled out two years ago. It would have allowed the party in power to bring up to 10 nominees simultaneously who emerged from the same panel and put them up for one vote.
The GOP is weighing changes to that proposal, however, including increasing the cap from 10 nominees or including nominees from more than one committee in a bloc.
There are a number of positions that would not be eligible to be considered in a bloc, including Cabinet-level nominees. Republicans are also expected to exclude judicial nominations from the en bloc votes, lawmakers said while exiting the meeting.
“We’re not talking about judges,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said. “But we are talking about the vast majority of the ambassadors, the vast majority of the sub-level Cabinet [nominations] who normally receive very few ‘no’ votes and, in fact in the past, have basically been voice votes before you leave for a recess.”
Republicans are hoping to make this type of rule change by the end of the current work period, which wraps in a little more than two weeks.
Republicans, frustrated that Democrats have been using procedural roadblocks to draw out consideration of even noncontroversial nominees, have been talking about a possible rule change for the better part of two months.
Those discussions ramped up during the August break after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and the White House were unable to strike a deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to advance a tranche of nominees in the days leading up to the recess.
Trump blamed Schumer for poisoning the well with unreasonable demands, while the New York Democrat said the president’s nominees deserve an extra layer of scrutiny given his actions during the first eight months of his term.
Of the 135 civilian nominees the Senate has confirmed, only one — Secretary of State Marco Rubio — was not subject to a filibuster.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) noted there are 145 nominees in the hopper at present, with that total set to rise in the coming days as committees advance more of them.
“It still takes a while to get through the blockade. So it would be important … to be able to batch these, which is the standard of what we used to do in the past,” Barrasso told reporters.
The most recent push by a majority to ease the passage of nominees took place in 2019 when then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and GOP members chopped the amount of debate for lower-level nominees from 30 hours down to the current two-hour mark.
Barrasso conceded the move back then actually “slowed down the process” and helped prompt the coming maneuver.
Schmitt and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), another member of the working group, noted in recent days they have held conversations with Democrats about a potential bipartisan exercise to deal with the nominee issue. Both, however, have indicated that very few in the minority party are willing to deal with the political wrath that would come as a result.
Republicans also have some concerns, despite zeroing in on the en bloc option.
Some GOP lawmakers indicated they worry this move will only prompt more of the nominees to emerge through committee with strictly partisan support, meaning they would still need to be considered individually.
“In the past, [these types of nominees] have been voted out on a bipartisan basis, but now does that mean that you would now have the minority always voting ‘no’?” Rounds asked. “Those are some of the things we have to work out.”
And some are well aware the GOP majority will end at some point, and they will have to endure these changes as a member in the minority down the road.
“We get that we’re going to be in the minority at some time, so we’re trying to come up with something that works whether you’re in the majority or the minority,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said.
“The worm always turns,” he continued. “We think it’s a fair change because when the shoe’s on the other foot and we’re in the minority, we’re going to have to live with it — and we’re fine with that.”
