Senate swiftly approves 48 of Trump's appointees in a single sitting, altering the chamber's regulations
Senate Confirms 48 of President Trump's Nominees Under New Rules
In a significant move, the U.S. Senate has confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump's nominees at once, utilising new rules that allow for a simple majority vote. Among the confirmed are Jonathan Morrison, the new administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Kimberly Guilfoyle as U.S. ambassador to Greece.
The new rules, which do not apply to judicial nominations or high-level Cabinet posts, were implemented due to a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations over the confirmation process. Republicans first proposed changing the rules in early August.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has criticised the Republican actions, stating that they have "chipped 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 asked." Schumer has also said that Democrats are delaying nominations because they consider Trump's nominees to be "historically bad."
However, Senators in both parties have advocated for speeding up the process when they are in the majority. Thune, a Republican Senator, has stated that there will be more confirmations to come, aiming to fill the Trump administration at a pace similar to that of his predecessors.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former California prosecutor and television news personality who led the fundraising for Trump's 2020 campaign and was once engaged to Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., is among those confirmed as an ambassador. Other nominees expected to be confirmed soon include Callista Gingrich as Ambassador to Switzerland and Christine Toretti for Sweden.
This is not the first time that the Senate has seen rule changes to expedite the nomination process. In 2013, McConnell, then the Senate Majority Leader, changed the rules for executive branch and lower court judicial nominees to remove the 60-vote threshold for confirmations, when Democrats were blocking President Barack Obama's picks.
Schumer has warned Republicans that they will "come to regret" their action, echoing a similar warning from GOP Leader Mitch McConnell to then-Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2013. This latest salvo is part of a gradual change by both parties to weaken the filibuster and make the nominations process more partisan over the past dozen years.
The Senate voted 51-47 to confirm the 48 nominees. Despite the controversy, Republicans plan to confirm a second tranche of nominees in the coming weeks, gradually clearing more than 100 nominations that have been pending for months. Both parties have obstructed each other's nominees for years, and this latest move is a continuation of that trend.
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