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Senate Republicans moved one step closer to clearing out the backlog of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
The GOP confirmed 49 of Trump’s picks on Monday, a move that will have installed 60% of his civilian nominees. It’s also the fourth time Republicans have confirmed a slate of nominees in a batch since changing the Senate’s rules last year.
Included in the latest batch are 20 different positions, including a dozen U.S. attorneys, several U.S. marshals, ambassadors and members of a variety of agencies, including the departments of War, Transportation, Energy, and others.
GOP TRIGGERS NUCLEAR OPTION IN SENATE TO BREAK DEM BLOCKADE OF TRUMP NOMINEES
President Donald Trump arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Air Force One on May 15, 2026, returning from Beijing, where he met with China’s President Xi Jinping. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
Also included in the group is Trump’s pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management and a former member of Congress, Stevan Pearce.
Senate Democrats for much of last year had blocked most nominees from getting confirmed. Typically, civilian nominees were often confirmed without actually having to take a full vote on the Senate floor.
That obstruction, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in a bid to prevent Trump from molding the federal government to fit with his agenda, spurred Republicans to go nuclear and change the Senate’s rules.
That move, the fourth time that lawmakers have turned to the nuclear option in the Senate, lowered the threshold for certain picks to just a simple majority rather than the typical 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.
SENATE GOP RAMS THROUGH BLUEPRINT TO BANKROLL ICE, BORDER PATROL THROUGH END OF TRUMP ERA
And it has proven a successful move for Republicans. Last year, they confirmed over 400 of Trump’s picks.
That leapfrogged his first term total during the first year, having only gotten 323 confirmed. And it also…
