John Thune to use Democrats' own 'nuclear option' to defeat Senate confirmation blockade

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is set to leverage a Democratic precedent to override their obstruction and clear through the lengthy backlog of nominees.

Democrats have held up President Donald Trump's Senate nominees for months, making it the first administration ever not to have a single nominee confirmed via voice vote or unanimous consent. Instead, Democrats are digging their heels in and forcing "time-consuming" votes on uncontroversial nominees who later get confirmed along bipartisan lines. Now, the "nuclear option" is on the table.

'It's Trump derangement syndrome on steroids.'

"It’s delay for delay’s sake, and it’s a pettiness that leaves desks sitting empty in agencies across the federal government and robs our duly elected president of a team to enact the agenda that the American people voted for in November," Thune said in an op-ed for Breitbart.

"Republicans aren’t going to tolerate this obstruction any longer," Thune added. "We have tried to work with Democrats in good faith to batch bipartisan, noncontroversial nominees and clear them expeditiously, according to past precedent. Democrats have stood in the way at every turn."

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Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Over the last month, Republican senators have developed a rule change based on a proposal initially introduced by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Angus King of Maine in 2023, one Republican aide told Blaze News.

Starting Monday, Thune will begin reforming the Senate rules based on the Democratic proposal, allowing Republicans to confirm nominees in batches, the aide confirmed to Blaze News. Without this rule change, the Senate would need to hold over 600 roll call votes just to clear the backlog of nominees who are currently on the docket.

"No party should be able to weaponize the confirmation process the way that Senate Democrats are doing now, in a way that has never been done before," Thune said.

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Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Since Trump took office in January, the Senate has taken more votes than any other Senate at this point in over three decades. Despite this, the current confirmation pace has plateaued due to Democrats' obstruction, which Thune said comes down to one thing.

"It's Trump derangement syndrome on steroids."

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