WASHINGTON AP - Senate Republicans are considering changing Senate rules to speed up confirmation of President Donald Trump's executive branch nominees, forcing a possible clash with Democrats as Trump pressures them to fill dozens of administration posts before they leave town for the monthlong August recess.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has already more than doubled the number of executive branch and judicial confirmations from Trump's first term by holding the Senate in session for more days and longer hours. Still, Trump says he wants more, and Democrats are delaying a vote on most every nominee, arguing that Trump's picks are extreme.
"We may need to look at doing things differently on nominees generally if the Democrats continue on this path of obstruction that they're on right now," Thune said Wednesday morning, adding that the number of votes they would have to change Senate rules "is growing quickly on our side right now."
The standoff between the two parties, with Trump encouraging Republicans to move even more swiftly or cancel their August recess, is likely to come to a head in the coming days. Democrats have little desire to give in to Thune's demand to confirm a tranche of nominees before they leave, even as senators in both parties are eager to skip town after several long months of work and bitter partisan fights over legislation.
The Senate clash over nominees is not new, though it has intensified over the last two decades as both parties have increasingly used stalling tactics to delay confirmations that were once quick, bipartisan and routine. In 2013, Democrats changed Senate rules for lower court judicial nominees to remove the 60-vote threshold for confirmations as Republicans blocked President Barack Obama's judicial nominations. In 2017, Republicans did the same for Supreme Court nominees as Democrats tried to block Trump's nomination of Justice Neil Gorsuch.