GOP triggers nuclear option in Senate to break Dem blockade of Trump nominees

The GOP's rule change, which was born from a revived Democratic proposal from 2023, will now allow lawmakers to vote on Trump's nominees in batches.

Judicial nominees, like district court judges and district attorneys, don't fall under the rule change. Lawmakers are expected to plow through dozens of nominees early next week under the new rules with the intent of clearing the backlog of Trump's picks, which grew to more than 140 and counting. 

However, before resorting to the nuclear option, lawmakers were close to a bipartisan deal that would have allowed for 15 nominees to be voted on in groups with two hours of debate.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, blocked the new proposal on the floor, and argued that Senate Republicans were trying to rush through the negotiating process ahead of their plan to leave Washington for the weekend.

"What they're asking for is unanimity, and we don't have it," he said. "And so, if you're interested in enacting this on a bipartisan basis, the process for doing that - it is available to you. But again, it's more a matter of running out of patience than running out of time."

"Give me a break," he said. "Two years. Not long enough. How about eight months? Eight months of this."

The nuclear process began earlier this week when Thune teed up 48 nominees, all of which moved through committee on a bipartisan basis, for confirmation on the floor.

"It's time to move," Thune said. "Time to quit stalling. Time to vote. It's time to fix this place. And the ideal way to fix it would be in a bipartisan way."

Both parties have turned to the nuclear option a handful of times since 2010. In 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., used the nuclear option to allow for all executive branch nominees to be confirmed by simple majority.