Our debt-ridden, woke-poisoned and polarized country is in deep trouble. President Trump is trying to fix as much as he can administratively. But after an impressive start, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is losing traction in the swamp.
Nearly 1,200 senior administration appointees require Senate confirmation. But under Sen. Thune’s leadership, the Senate has only confirmed 135. Thune has let Minority Leader Chuck Schumer block the process.
As Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) explained last week in the Wall Street Journal: “The Senate confirmed 98% of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s nominees expeditiously, meaning by voice vote or unanimous consent. The alternative—a roll-call vote—is much slower and in the past has been reserved for nominees who are controversial or in critical positions. For George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the Senate confirmed 90% by voice vote or unanimous consent. During Mr. Trump’s first term, it was 65% of nominees. Under Joe Biden, it was 57%. During Mr. Trump’s second term, it’s zero.”
That is utterly unacceptable. We are more than one-eighth through President Trump’s last final term, more than one-quarter of the way through this Congress and only months away from the 2026 mid-term season. Americans voted for the MAGA agenda in 2024. The President needs his nominees in place. And Majority Leader Thune is letting Minority Leader Schumer dictate the pace of confirmations.
What’s to be done? Here are a couple ideas.
Majority Leader Thune effectively controls whether the Senate parliamentarian keeps her job. The current Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough was appointed by the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2012. Why she is still there is anyone’s guess, especially as she has tried to thwart the Trump agenda twice. The parliamentarian is supposed to be a neutral referee, but in reality, the position is a creature of Senate leadership and she’s a partisan Democrat.
In May, she tried to block the Senate from voting to terminate California’s electric vehicle mandate. In June, she tried to block the Senate from voting to repeal the Green New Scam in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. She failed both times but caused problems. But she’s a problem nonetheless and has no business in a Republican-controlled Senate.
Although Thune has so far been reluctant to dismiss the Parliamentarian, he should make Schumer an offer he can’t refuse: The Parliamentarian keeps her job, and Trump appointees get a quick voice vote or unanimous consent vote. That threat shifts the balance of power — suddenly Schumer has to weigh whether it’s worth losing a compliant parliamentarian just to slow-walk confirmations. It’s a win-win for Thune.
If that doesn’t work, another option is changing the Senate rules by majority vote in order to expedite confirmation votes. Senate rules have become a shield for the status quo and worse, a means for Democrats to sabotage President Trump. They empower the “uniparty” by giving endless excuses for delay while maintaining the illusion of constitutional necessity. But the Senate rules aren’t in the Constitution. They are self-imposed shackles that can be used to perpetuate gridlock and ever-bigger government.
All this, of course, depends on Leader Thune being able to bring a majority of Senators to his side. Although Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, there are several weak-kneed Republicans in that 53. But surely Leader Thune has something he can offer them for their support.
The Senate confirmation process is broken. Its dysfunction creates long vacancies, deters talented people from serving, and forces President Trump into endless procedural fights, and thwarts the MAGA agenda he was elected to implement.
Reducing confirmation fights to 200–300 truly essential posts — e.g., key cabinet roles and top independent regulators — would streamline the process and reduce the leverage of entrenched senators. It would also give a president the government he was elected to administer.
Steve Milloy is a biostatistician and lawyer, publishes JunkScience.com and is on X @JunkScience.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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