Senate Agrees to ‘Nuclear Option’ to Speed Up Confirmation of Trump Appointees

The Senate on Sept. 11 invoked the “nuclear option” to change the chamber’s rules in order to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominees more quickly.

In a party-line 53–47 vote, Republicans agreed to a resolution that would provide for expedited consideration of 48 nominees. Similar resolutions could follow to quickly confirm additional batches of nominees later.

The vote comes as Democrats have made use of their limited powers in the Senate to slow even Trump’s lesser appointees, making use of procedures that allow members of either party to speak at length prior to a vote. Democrats have taken the entirety of their time for each nominee.

Historically, lesser executive appointments have been filled through unanimous consent, allowing dozens or hundreds of nominees to be confirmed at once.

The delays have led to a backlog of unfilled executive positions, leading Trump to demand a change of strategy in the upper chamber.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) announced earlier this week that the Senate would pursue changes to the rules about nominees.

“Democrats have made President Donald Trump the first president on record to not have a single nominee confirmed via voice vote or unanimous consent, and they are forcing time-consuming votes on noncontroversial nominees who go on to be confirmed by large bipartisan margins,” Thune wrote in an op-ed published in Breitbart on Sept. 8.

The “nuclear option” in the Senate describes a situation in which the majority of the chamber vote to change procedures or rules in the Senate during the middle of a congressional session.

Both chambers set their rules at the beginning of a congressional session. In the House, suspending the rules requires a two-thirds majority; in the Senate, rules can be overwritten through a simple majority vote.

Such changes to the rules are considered precedent-setting, and the other party tends to take advantage of such precedents when it returns to power.

Historically, the nuclear option has been used to overcome perceived obstruction or other procedural hurdles placed by the opposition party, and this case is similar.

In 2013, Democrats used the nuclear option to allow lower court nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority; later, Republicans expanded this rule change to include Supreme Court justices.

Although they’re out of power in Washington, Democrats have, in recent months, taken steps to slow the confirmation of Trump’s executive appointees.

This has included taking their full allotted time to speak for each individual nominee—a divergence from norms in Washington, where lawmakers have historically confirmed dozens or hundreds of lesser nominees through unanimous consent voice votes.

Since Trump returned to the White House, Senate Democrats have withheld unanimous consent and required votes on the president’s nominees, dragging out the process.

Republicans unanimously supported the change, including some of the conference’s most moderate members like Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), a freshman senator seen as one of the most moderate voices in the GOP caucus, was also supportive of the move. He noted that all 53 Republicans had supported a procedural vote to advance the bill on Sept. 9, showing their unity on the issue.

Asked whether a rules change could undermine precedent, Curtis told The Epoch Times that Democrats were “[undermining] precedent by doing what they did.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told The Epoch Times on Sept. 10 that he supported a rule change, although he acknowledged that it would “set a precedent.”

“[But] we have to do something or we’re not gonna get anybody confirmed,” Tuberville said. “We’ve never had anybody that didn’t give any voice votes whatsoever to the majority. We’ve got to do something to have somebody working and filling these positions. So I’m all for it.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the leaders of Democratic opposition to the rule change, said the GOP resolution was too broad.

“It has no guardrails. They can use this for judges, for cabinet officials. They can move 100 nominees at a time. It’s a pretty stunning application of advice and consent,” Murphy told The Epoch Times.