Senate Republicans are plowing ahead with confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees, outpacing the confirmation speed of the prior two administrations, including Trump’s first, despite unprecedented obstruction from Senate Democrats.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) general counsel nominee Sean Donahue on Thursday became the 67th civilian nominee of Trump’s second term to be confirmed, more than doubling the number of civilians that were confirmed by May 15, 2017 during the president’s first term. The Senate GOP leadership’s aggressive pace comes as Senate Democrats have sought to place historic roadblocks in the confirmation process by requiring roll call votes for all of the president’s nominees.
Senate Democrats have placed blanket holds on hundreds of the president’s nominees thus far, requiring Senate GOP leadership to use finite floor time to confirm each nominee individually through a series of roll call votes.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday became the latest Democrat to announce holds on the president’s Department of Justice (DOJ) nominees following Trump’s plans to accept a jet from the Qatari royal family.
Senate Republicans, however, pointed out that Democrats have sought to delay the confirmation process since the opening days of Trump’s presidency.
“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,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor Monday. “I’d like to do this the easy way, and confirm noncontroversial nominees expeditiously – in batches, for example, and maybe even by unanimous consent.”
“But if we have to do this the hard way, we will,” Thune continued. “We’re going to get the president’s team in place.”
Trump, in his second term, is the first president in roughly a century to not have a single civilian nominee secure confirmation via voice vote or unanimous consent at this point in his presidency, according to the Thune-aligned Senate Republican Communications Center.
The Communications Center looked as far back as former President Herbert Hoover’s administration and found that every president since has had a nominee confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent at this point in their presidency, except for Trump in his second term.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was confirmed just hours after Trump was sworn into office on Jan. 20, is the lone Trump nominee that Senate Democrats allowed to bypass a cloture vote. Senate Democrats forced the other 66 civilian nominees confirmed thus far to be subjected to a cloture vote to end debate on their nominations.
Prior administrations, even those with few total civilian nominee confirmations as of May 15, had an easier time moving nominees across the Senate floor than the second Trump administration.
(Chart by the Senate Republican Communications Center)
Senate Democrats confirmed 52 of former President Joe Biden’s civilian nominees as of May 15 in the first year of his presidency. However, just 33 of those nominees required a cloture vote to win confirmation.
Similarly, 11 of the 32 Trump nominees confirmed by May 15 in the first year of the president’s first term did not requirecloture votes to cut off debate on their nominations.
Though former President Barack Obama secured 107 civilian nominee confirmations by May 15, 2009, the Senate held a cloture vote on just one nominee out of the entire cohort.
The Trump White House attributed the quick confirmation pace of the president’s nominees to their enthusiasm to implement the president’s policies.
“The Senate has confirmed President Trump’s nominees at a record pace because his picks are wildly popular, credible and eager to implement the President’s America First agenda,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement Thursday.
Though Senate Republicans have made substantial progress in getting the president’s appointees into place, much of Trump’s agenda has yet to advance through the Republican-controlled Congress. Senate Democrats have successfully filibustered four GOP-backed bills since January despite every member of the Democratic conference previously voting or campaigning to eliminate the procedural rule requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation.
Thune indicated he is aiming to send what Trump has called his “one, big beautiful bill,” a vast tax and spending package incorporating much of the president’s legislative agenda, to Trump’s desk by July 4.
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