WASHINGTON — A stalemate over the pace of confirmations has delayed the Senate’s yearly August recess, for now, as President Donald Trump declares that his nominees “should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT” and as Democrats slow the process by forcing procedural votes on almost all of Trump’s picks.
Caught in the middle, Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he will keep the Senate in session over the weekend, at least, to hold confirmation votes while also negotiating with Democrats to speed up consideration of dozens of nominees. The two sides haven’t come to agreement yet, and it’s still unclear if Trump, who has been publicly calling on Republicans to cancel their break, would be onboard with any bipartisan deal.
Thune said Friday he was leaving some of the negotiations to Trump and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“That’s how this is going to get resolved,” Thune said. “We’ll see where that leads.”
Senators in both parties are eager to leave Washington for their annual break, when many of them tour their states to talk to constituents. Republicans in particular are eager to return home and sell the massive tax and spending cuts package they passed in July as Democrats vow to use it against them in the 2026 midterm elections. The House, which has no role in the confirmation process, fled Washington a week ago.
But Trump has other plans.
“The Senate must stay in Session, taking no recess, until the entire Executive Calendar is CLEAR!!!” Trump posted on social media Thursday night, after a meeting with Thune at the White House. “We have to save our Country from the Lunatic Left. Republicans, for the health and safety of the USA, DO YOUR JOB, and confirm All Nominees.”
Thune said this week that Republicans are considering changing the Senate’s rules when they get back in September to make it easier to quickly approve a president’s nominations — and to try and avoid a similar stalemate in the future. Democrats have blocked more nominees than usual this year, denying any quick unanimous consent votes and forcing roll calls on each one, a lengthy process that takes several days per nominee and allows for debate time.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Friday that Senate GOP leadership was “going back, drafting a specific rule for us to react to” as they try to plot a path forward.
It’s the first time in recent history that the minority party hasn’t allowed at least some quick confirmations. Thune has already kept the Senate in session for more days, and with longer hours, this year to try and confirm as many of Trump’s nominees as possible.
Democrats have little desire to give in, even though they too are eager to skip town after several long months of work and bitter partisan fights over legislation. Schumer has said Democrats have blocked quick votes because, “historically bad nominees deserved historic levels of scrutiny.”
There are more than 150 nominations on the Senate calendar, and confirming them all would take more than a month even if the Senate does stay in session, if Democrats draw out the process.
The standoff is just the latest chapter in an ever-escalating Senate fight over nominations in the last two decades. 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.
Still, Thune says, the Democrats’ current delays are a “historic level of obstruction.”
In his first year as leader, Thune has worked with Trump to quickly confirm his Cabinet and navigated complicated internal party dynamics to pass the tax and spending cuts package, which Trump sees as his signature policy achievement.
Yet the president is applying increasing pressure on Thune and his conference, trying to control the Senate’s schedule and calling out three Republican senators in social media posts this week — including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the senior-most Senate Republican who worked closely with Trump to confirm his picks for Supreme Court in his first term.
Trump criticized Grassley for keeping with Senate tradition and working with home state Democrats on some judicial confirmations, saying that he got Grassley re-elected “when he was down, by a lot.”
Opening a committee hearing on Thursday, Grassley defended the practice and added that he was “offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults.”
Trump also criticized Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley for working with Democrats on a stock trading ban for lawmakers. And in a post late Thursday, he counseled Republicans to “vote the exact opposite” of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, a moderate who has worked with Democrats on spending bills this year and frequently opposes Trump.
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Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributedto this report.
