Majority Leader | Research | The Leader Board | THE NEWSR...Skip to primary navigation Skip to content×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNE×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUFacebookXInstagramFacebookXInstagramVisit Leader Thune's South Dakota Site Here THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUHomeTHE NEWSROOMThe Leader Board09.08.25Republicans Will Restore the Senate’s Nominations ProcessDemocrats Have Taken a Sledgehammer to the Institution of the Senate for Decades. The Senate Republican Majority Will Clear the Historic Backlog by Returning to Confirming Batches of Nominations. OVER THE COURSE OF THE PAST TWO DECADES, SENATE DEMOCRATS HAVE BROKEN THE NOMINATIONS PROCESSDuring President George W. Bush’s (R) first term, Senate Democrats “us[ed] a filibuster to kill an appeals court nomination for the first time in history,” against Miguel Estrada, a former assistant solicitor general during the Clinton administration who would have been the first Hispanic American to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.“One of the handful of Senate Democrats to break ranks and oppose the filibusters, Zell Miller of Georgia, said Estrada ‘has become the latest victim of Washington's partisan, obstructionist politics.’”“[U]napologetic Senate Democrats claimed victory and vowed to continue trying to block any Bush nominees who are, in the words of Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, ‘far beyond the mainstream.’” (CNN: Estrada withdraws as judicial nominee – 9/4/03)Once Democrats began filibustering appeals court nominations, they never stopped:“His judicial selections set off fierce clashes with Senate Democrats. Until a compromise was brokered in 2005, Democrats blocked votes on several nominees for years.” (The New York Times: Appeals Courts Pushed to Right by Bush Choices – 10/28/08)As of April 2005: “President Bush has had 57 nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals… Of the 52 who [received hearings], 42 have been confirmed, but 10 were blocked by Democrats' use of the filibuster to prevent a floor vote.” (NPR: Primer: Judicial Nominees and the Senate Filibuster – 4/5/05)Fast forward: After Republicans used Democrats’ own tactics to block some of President Barack Obama’s (D) first-term nominees, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) and Senate Democrats in 2013 rammed through a rules change they once claimed they wanted to avoid, “eliminating the use of the filibuster on all presidential nominees except those to the U.S. Supreme Court.” (The Washington Post: Senate leaders reach deal modifying filibuster rules, keep 60-vote hurdle – 1/24/13; Politico: Senate goes for 'nuclear option' – 11/21/13)Before Senate Democrats changed the nominations rules in November 2013, the Senate had confirmed 94% of all civilian nominees by voice vote or unanimous consent. (Congressional Research Service: Hearing on "Senate Procedures to Confirm Nominees" – 7/30/24)“When Democrats began to use the cloture rule to block Bush’s circuit court judges, we made it very clear that we were done living by two sets of rules… [W]e began to follow the precedent established by the Democrats and blocked a proportional number of President Obama’s judicial nominees. Despite the fact that Republicans were holding Democrats to the same standard they established, Senate Democrats made a big show of being outraged and indignant about this equal treatment.” – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)THANKS TO THE MESS DEMOCRATS CREATED, NOMINATIONS REFORM IS SORELY NEEDED – JUST ASK DEMOCRATS THEMSELVESIn 2023, Democrats introduced another rules change proposal “to expedite the process for confirming certain presidential nominees and reduce the backlog waiting for approval.” (Roll Call: Resolution would allow bulk Senate confirmation without UC – 5/23/23)Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Angus King (I-Maine) led the proposal, which “would allow the majority leader to call up to 10 nominees advanced out of the same committee to be considered at the same time for a vote, excluding certain positions like circuit court judges, Supreme Court justices and Cabinet secretaries.” (Roll Call: Resolution would allow bulk Senate confirmation without UC – 5/23/23)“Considering full slates of nominees en bloc allows for speedy consideration, but it currently requires unanimous consent, which provides opportunity for a single senator to hold up the process, according to a Democratic Senate aide. The measure from Klobuchar would change the rules to allow a majority vote for confirmation without requiring unanimous consent.” (Roll Call: Resolution would allow bulk Senate confirmation without UC – 5/23/23)Senate Democrats agreed that the nominations process needs serious reforms so that presidents can fill roles in their administrations:“For decades, Democrats and Republicans have regularly cooperated to swiftly confirm the many, many individuals selected by each President to serve in their Administration. Regardless of the party in the White House, both sides have long agreed that a President deserves to have his or her Administration in place, quickly.” – Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)“The facts speak for themselves. In recent decades, it has taken longer to confirm nominees for each successive president… Pretty soon we are going to become a full time employment agency. Although we don't really even discuss the applicants, we just go in and vote and go in and vote. The time the Senate is spending to confirm nominees not only impacts our work and legislation, but also delays a president — no matter his or her party — from filling important positions.” – Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)“I think our role is not to substitute our judgment for the president, not to say this is who we would have necessarily hired. But the deference goes to the president to build his team.” – Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)“When the Founders of our Republic came together to write the Constitution, they knew that the President would need help in administering this great and expansive nation. Without help, without a government that was staffed, justice would not be established, our common defense would be threatened, and the blessings of liberty we hoped to secure through our laws would go unfulfilled.” – Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)“[T]his expanding tension in which our warfare is conducted against by the minority against the president of an opposite party is just not serving our democracy well…” – Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)REPUBLICANS ARE MODIFYING SENS. KLOBUCHAR AND KING’S PROPOSAL TO MEET THE SENATE’S SERIOUS NOMINATIONS CHALLENGEWhen Democrats changed the rules in 2013, it was “the most significant change since the Senate lowered its threshold to break a filibuster from two-thirds of the body to three-fifths, or 60 votes, in 1975,” and came as only “59 nominees to executive branch positions and 17 nominees to the federal judiciary [were] awaiting confirmation votes,” a total of 76 nominees. (The New York Times: In Landmark Vote, Senate Limits Use of the Filibuster – 11/21/13; U.S. Senate: Executive Calendar – 11/21/13)Democrats’ rules change in 2013 came “just a few days after an unusually bipartisan June in which senators approved … a slate of nominees, including two Cabinet-level positions that breezed through. But a Democratic leadership aide said those successes have not moved the needle. ‘It’s totally irrelevant,’ the aide said.” (Politico: Nuclear option urged on filibuster – 7/7/13)“[T]he president’s Cabinet is now mostly full and there are just a handful of judicial nominees on the calendar — perhaps not the strongest impetus to spark an overhaul of one of the country’s oldest federal institutions.” (Politico: Nuclear option urged on filibuster – 7/7/13)Senate Democrats in 2023 were facing a similar backlog of nominees: When Sens. Klobuchar and Kingintroduced Democrats’ rules change resolution on May 18, there were 58 nominees to executive branch and other positions and 23 nominees to Article III federal judgeships, a total of 81 nominees, awaiting floor consideration. (U.S. Senate: Executive Calendar – 5/18/23)As of September 7, there are 149 civilian nominees awaiting confirmation thanks to Democrats’ present obstruction – 144 executive branch and other positions and five Article III federal judgeships. (U.S. Senate: Pending Nominations on the Executive Calendar (Civilian) – accessed 9/7/25)President Trump is still the only president on record not to have a single civilian nominee confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote at this point in his administration: (U.S. Congress: 119th Congress Nominees – accessed 9/7/25; The Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: Thune Says Trump Nominees Are Being Confirmed At Rapid Pace Despite ‘Historic’ Obstruction – 6/14/25)(Click here to download)Through September 7, the Senate has confirmed 135 of President Trump’s civilian nominees. At this pace, the Senate would be expected to confirm just 872 of President Trump’s civilian nominees over his entire administration, far below the recent historical average: (Senate Majority Leader: President Trump's Senate-Confirmed Nominees – accessed 9/7/25; U.S. Congress: President Barack Obama Nominations 2009-2012 – accessed 9/7/25; U.S. Congress: President Donald Trump Nominations 2017-2020 – accessed 9/7/25; U.S. Congress: President Joe Biden Nominations 2021-2024 – accessed 9/7/25)(Click here to download)“The Klobuchar-King proposal was designed to speed up the confirmation process at a time when the Senate was regularly confirming batches of nominees by voice vote, a luxury Democrats have not allowed this Congress. We have modified this proposal to account for the added obstruction by allowing nominees to move in larger groups.” – Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.)PrintEmailTweetNextPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
