Senate Republicans accelerated their effort to reshape the federal government on Wednesday, pushing nearly 100 of President Donald Trump’s nominees past an early procedural barrier and setting up a decisive vote in the days ahead.
According to Fox News, the move advances 97 of Trump’s selections in one sweeping package — the third time Republicans have bundled nominees together since changing confirmation rules in September.
The final vote is expected next week. Once approved, the total number of Trump nominees confirmed during the first year of his second term will surpass 400.
That pace significantly outstrips President Joe Biden’s record, who by this point had secured just 350 confirmations.
The slate includes former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York, tapped to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor, as well as National Labor Relations Board nominees James Murphy and Scott Mayer.
Their inclusion follows Trump’s firing of NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, a dismissal the Supreme Court upheld earlier this year.
The path to Wednesday’s vote was not smooth. Senate Republicans attempted to advance this same package last week, only to be blocked by Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.
The GOP responded by relying on the rule changes they enacted in September — a move critics labeled “nuclear” — which lowered the threshold for advancing sub-Cabinet nominees to a simple majority.
The rule shift was aimed at breaking what Republicans called a months-long Democratic blockade.
But the earlier nominee bundle contained a roadblock of its own: Sara Carter, a former Fox News contributor nominated to serve as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Because the position is considered “Level 1,” her confirmation would have required breaking a 60-vote filibuster — a near impossibility given Democrats’ strong opposition to several Trump picks.
To avoid sinking the entire list, Republicans scrapped the previous package and returned with a larger, restructured slate that excluded Carter and added nine additional nominees for a total of 97.
With the procedural vote now cleared, Republicans are poised to deliver one of the largest single batches of confirmations in recent history — and to continue rapidly stocking the federal government with Trump’s chosen leadership across nearly every major agency.
