Majority Leader | Press Release | Press Releases | THE NE...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 NEWSROOMPress Releases01.14.26Thune: Republicans Plow Ahead on Confirming the President’s Nominees“Republicans remain committed to ensuring that he has his team in place so that he can do the work the American people elected him to do.” Click here to watch the video.WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):“Mr. President, 2025 was a year of hard legislative work in the United States Senate.“We passed once-in-a-generation legislation, the Working Families Tax Cuts bill, which is currently putting more money in hardworking Americans’ pockets.“But we didn’t just make the headlines legislatively.“In addition to a packed legislative schedule, we considered and confirmed 417 civilian presidential nominations – more than were confirmed in the first year of President Trump’s first term, or President Biden’s.“And while 417 would be an impressive number all on its own, it’s particularly remarkable given the historic level of obstruction the president’s nominees faced.“I said historic.“And I mean historic.“When you look at this term, President Trump remains the only president on record – the only president on record, in American history – not to have had a single nominee confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.“Compare that to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who each had 98 percent of their civilian nominees confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote in the first term of their presidencies.“98 percent.“George W. Bush and Barack Obama each had 90 percent.“And while Democrats substantially eroded this tradition of bipartisanship during President Trump’s first term, both President Trump in his first term and President Biden each had more than half of their nominees confirmed by voice vote. “So you can see, Mr. President, what I mean by historic obstruction.“Democrats, of course, attempted to justify themselves by claiming, in the words of the Democrat leader, that ‘historically bad nominees deserve a historic level of scrutiny.’“The only problem with that argument, of course, Mr. President, is that a lot of these supposedly ‘historically bad’ nominees received Democrat votes.“So either Democrats were supporting historically bad nominees, or this wasn’t about historically bad nominees at all.“Which, of course, it wasn’t.“The real reason Democrats were dragging out nominations for assistant administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement was nothing more than petty politics.“Because as we see with Venezuela and as we’ve seen with presidential nominations, Democrats are incapable of fairness or nuance when it comes to President Trump.“They can’t deal with the fact that he was elected president, and so they reflexively oppose anything he does or says – even when it’s something they might otherwise support.“The virulent partisanship Democrats have injected into our politics is deeply regrettable.“But Republicans, of course, have not let it stop us from achieving things for the American people – whether that’s passing the Working Families Tax Cuts, or confirming 417 presidential nominees in the face of historic Democrat obstruction.“And we are right back at it this year, confirming four nominees in the first week of 2026.“Mr. President, the American people elected President Trump.“And Republicans remain committed to ensuring that he has his team in place so that he can do the work the American people elected him to do.”PrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
