Senate Republicans eye 'nuclear option' for rules change to speed up Trump nominees

Republicans are pushing a major change to Senate rules to confirm scores of President Donald Trump’s nominees in batches to speed up the process.

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders are moving closer to implementing a major change to Senate rules that would allow them to confirm scores of President Donald Trump’s nominees in batches, rather than vote on each one individually.

Republicans are making the change to speed up votes on Trump’s nominees after having complained that Democrats are slow-walking them en masse. Meanwhile, the Senate's top Democrat warned them not to “go nuclear” in service of advancing Trump’s loyalists.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., rolled out a package of 48 Trump nominees Monday that will serve as the vehicle to establish a new rule, although the process is expected to continue into next week before the rules change enables confirmation of the first bloc of nominees.

Republicans plan to use the “nuclear option,” in which the party in power can overturn standing order to set a new precedent, effectively changing the rules with a simple majority. The tool has previously been used by both parties to weaken the 60-vote filibuster rule for judges and to reduce debate time for nominees.

“It’s time to take steps to restore Senate precedent and codify in Senate rules what once was understood to be standard practice — and that is the Senate acting expeditiously on presidential nominations to allow a president to get his team into place,” Thune said Monday on the Senate floor. “And so this afternoon, I’ll be taking the necessary procedural steps to amend the rules.”