Thune says Senate will change the rules to push through Trump's blocked nominees [View all]

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/senate-nominations-trump-thune-rules-change-0372be884d4dd177db71a87a35534f06

Thune says Senate will change the rules to push through Trump’s blocked nominees
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Updated 8:02 PM CDT, September 8, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans are ready to change the chamber’s rules to allow quick confirmations of dozens of President Donald Trump’s executive branch nominees and will move to speed up votes after months of Democratic delays.

Opening the Senate on Monday, Thune said Democrats’ obstruction is “unsustainable.” He said Republicans will begin action this week to allow votes on groups of lower-level executive branch nominees if a majority of the Senate agrees. Currently, one senator’s objection can force days of votes on a single nominee.

If the Democratic delays continue, Thune said, “there is no practical way that we could come close to filling all the vacancies in the four years of this administration no matter how many hours the Senate works.”

Changing the rules would take time, with procedural votes potentially Thursday and early next week to push through a first tranche of 48 nominees, according to a person familiar with the GOP plan who requested anonymity because it hasn’t been released publicly. The nominations include undersecretaries and staff positions for various agencies across the government as well as several ambassadors.

Republicans have been talking about options for changing the rules since early August, when the Senate left for a monthlong recess after a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations over the confirmation process. Democrats have blocked nearly every single one of Trump’s nominees, forcing majority Republicans to spend valuable floor time on procedural votes and leaving many positions in the executive branch unfilled.

...