Senate Republicans Confirm More Than 100 Trump Nominees
Senate Republicans handed President Donald J. Trump a major victory Tuesday night, confirming more than 100 of his nominees in one of the largest single-day confirmation efforts in modern history.
The move cleared months of Democrat-created backlog, ending a long stretch of obstruction that had stalled dozens of key appointments across the Trump administration.
According to Politico, the confirmations were made possible after Senate Republicans changed chamber rules last month to allow non-Cabinet executive branch nominees to be approved in large groups instead of through time-consuming individual votes.
Among those confirmed were former GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker, now set to serve as ambassador to the Bahamas, and Sergio Gor, former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who will serve as ambassador to India.
The rule change—dubbed the “nuclear option”—was invoked by Republicans along party lines to bypass months of Democratic slow-walking and procedural delays. GOP leaders said the reforms were necessary to restore functionality to a Senate mired in partisan gridlock.
“Everybody had been talking through various options,” said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who led a working group to craft the new rules. “One of the things that that process did was empower the committee process.”
Republicans briefly debated allowing President Trump to make recess appointments—which would have let him fill vacancies while the Senate was adjourned—but ultimately opted for the procedural rule change instead, citing long-term strategic considerations.
The mass confirmations mark a decisive turning point for President Trump’s second-term agenda, allowing his administration to move forward on foreign policy, national security, and domestic reform initiatives without the delays that plagued his first term.
“The president’s nominees should not be forced to wait any longer,” Trump told lawmakers earlier this summer, urging them to stay in session and finish the job.
His message was received. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) kept senators in Washington through the weekend to push through the nominations after Democrats once again attempted to stall the process by demanding roll-call votes on even routine appointments.
The final push came just before what would have been the Senate’s August recess, which was delayed as Republicans refused to reward Democrats’ obstruction tactics.
Notably, the Senate also confirmed Jeanine Pirro—the former New York judge, prosecutor, and Fox News host—as Washington D.C.’s top prosecutor, one of the most high-profile appointments on the docket.
The confirmations close a chapter of procedural warfare that began months ago, when Senate Democrats blocked dozens of Trump’s judicial and executive nominees through a combination of filibusters and procedural holds. With the rule change now in effect, the President’s team is expected to move swiftly to fill remaining vacancies across the federal government.
As one senior GOP aide put it, the move sends a clear message: the days of Democrats stonewalling President Trump’s nominees are over.