Thune Battles Schumer on Holding Up Trump Nominees

One of the Senate’s biggest fights is happening right now, but it is not getting much attention.

President Donald Trump still has around 100 nominees on the Senate executive calendar who have yet to be confirmed, and Democrats are pulling all stops to delay the process.

To be sure, Republican senators under Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., are keeping a good pace, with 68 civilian nominees confirmed so far. That’s compared to 59 under President Joe Biden at the same point in his term, and 48 at this point in Trump’s first term.

But this has been accomplished in spite of fierce resistance from Democrats that has little precedent.

So far, Democrats have not allowed a single unanimous consent or voice vote for civilian nominees, a procedural tactic to slow down the confirmation process.

In mid-May, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., publicly touted his obstruction of Senate confirmations, saying he was placing “a hold on all [Justice Department] political nominees until we get more answers” about Qatar’s gift of a luxury plane to the administration to be used as Air Force One, which he called “naked corruption.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Daily Signal in a statement that Grassley is determined to counteract Schumer’s blanket hold.

“Despite Democrat obstruction, Senate Republicans in the 119^th Congress have confirmed nominees at a faster rate than both the Biden and the first Trump administrations,” said the spokesperson.

“For its part, the Judiciary Committee has so far confirmed or is processing the nominations of 40 executive and judicial nominees. Chairman Grassley, along with Senate Republicans, continues to work efficiently and effectively to put constitutionalist judges on the federal bench and ensure President Trump’s team is in place,” read the statement.

So far, Senate Democrats have forced the requirement of a cloture vote on 67 out of the 68 civilian nominees confirmed, with the only exception being Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

This is yet another method of lengthening and complicating the process.

For context, through May 15 of Biden’s first year as president, 33 out of 52 of his confirmed civilian nominees required cloture votes and under Trump’s first term, only 21 of 32 did.

Even these numbers are far above the historical norm. Under President Barack Obama, for example, only one of his 107 confirmed civilian nominees required a cloture vote through May 15 of his first year in office. Under George W. Bush it was zero.

Now, Thune says he will battle it out to confirm the rest of Trump’s nominees.

“Mr. President, we’re kicking off the June work period today, and it’s going to be a busy month,” Thune said in his floor speech Monday. 

“The president needs to have his team in place so that he can do the job he was elected to do, and we’re going to continue to deliver.”

Thune also criticized Democrats’ obstruction of the process.

“It’s disappointing that Democrats have chosen to slow down this process by gumming up the works on even noncontroversial nominations,” he said.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., agreed, telling The Daily Signal in a statement, “In the face of unprecedented Democrat obstruction, Senate Republicans are confirming President Trump’s nominees at a record fast pace. This obstruction by the Democrats is a deliberate effort to stonewall the popular Republican agenda. They will not stop us. Republicans will keep fighting to quickly confirm President Trump’s qualified nominees, no matter how low Democrats sink.”

Despite the break-neck speed of Senate confirmations so far, Thune is facing pressure from conservative groups in Washington to make haste in confirming his remaining nominees.

The Conservative Action Project, a coalition that promotes “constitutional conservatism,” released a memorandum Monday urging Senate Republicans “to prioritize and swiftly confirm the president’s nominees.”

“The Senate could easily confirm dozens of nominees a week if they chose to work a full five-day work week, between the hours of 9am and 5pm,” reads the memorandum, which was co-signed by leaders of influential Washington organizations such as the Conservative Partnership Institute and Citizens United.

Of course, Thune and Senate Republicans do have a lot on their plate, such as passing the “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill by their preferred deadline of Independence Day, July 4. 

This bill, for which Senate leadership is working to get the necessary votes, would fulfill a number of Trump’s campaign promises, such as funding border security and extending his 2017 tax cuts.

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