Senate confirms 48 of Trump’s nominees at once after changing the chamber’s rules

WASHINGTON AP The Senate has proven of President Donald Trump s nominees at once voting for the first time under new rules to begin clearing a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed by Democrats Frustrated by the stalling tactics Senate Republicans moved last week to make it easier to confirm large groups of lower-level non-judicial nominations Democrats had forced multiple votes on almost every one of Trump s picks infuriating the president and tying up the Senate floor The new rules allow Senate Republicans to move multiple nominees with a simple majority vote a process that would have previously been blocked with just one objection The rules don t apply to judicial nominations or high-level Cabinet posts Republicans have fixed a broken process Thune commented ahead of the vote The Senate voted - to confirm the four dozen nominees Thune declared that those ratified on Thursday had all received bipartisan votes in committee including deputy secretaries for the Departments of Defense Interior Potential and others Among the authenticated are Jonathan Morrison the new administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Kimberly Guilfoyle as U S ambassador to Greece Guilfoyle is a former California prosecutor and television news personality who led the fundraising for Trump s campaign and was once engaged to Trump s son Donald Trump Jr Thune s move is the latest salvo after a dozen years of gradual changes by both parties to weaken the filibuster and make the nominations process more partisan Both parties have obstructed each other s nominees for years and senators in both parties have advocated for speeding up the process when they are in the majority Republicans first proposed changing the rules in early August when the Senate left for a monthlong recess after a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations over the confirmation process and Trump narrated Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to GO TO HELL on social media Democrats have blocked more nominees than ever before as they have struggled to find means to oppose Trump and the GOP-dominated Congress and as their voters have pushed them to fight Republicans at every turn It s the first time in modern history that the minority party hasn t allowed at least specific quick confirmations Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has explained Democrats are delaying the nominations because Trump s nominees are historically bad And he stated Republicans that they will come to regret their action echoing a similar warning from GOP Leader Mitch McConnell to then-Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev in when Democrats changed Senate rules for executive branch and lower court judicial nominees to remove the -vote threshold for confirmations At the time Republicans were blocking President Barack Obama s picks Republicans took the Senate majority a year later and McConnell eventually did the same for Supreme Court nominees in as Democrats tried to block Trump s nomination of Justice Neil Gorsuch What Republicans have done is chip away at the Senate even more to give Donald Trump more power and to rubber stamp whomever he wants whenever he wants them no questions inquired Schumer announced last week Republicans will move to confirm a second tranche of nominees in the coming weeks gradually clearing the list of more than nominations that have been pending for months There will be more to come Thune stated Thursday And we ll ensure that President Trump s administration is filled at a pace that looks more like those of his predecessors