Briefnow
May 21, 2026

GOP Senate Makes Big Move For Trump Over Dem Objections

Senate Republicans took a significant step this week towards addressing the backlog of nominees put forward by President Donald Trump.

On Monday, the GOP confirmed 49 of Trump’s nominees, which means that 60% of his civilian nominations are now finalized.

This marks the fourth time Republicans have confirmed a group of nominees since the Senate altered its rules last year.

The latest batch includes 20 different positions, comprising a dozen U.S. attorneys, several U.S. marshals, ambassadors, and members from various agencies, including the Departments of War, Transportation, and Energy, among others.

Also among the nominees is Stevan Pearce, Donald Trump’s selection to lead the Bureau of Land Management.

Senate Democrats spent much of last year delaying or blocking confirmations for numerous nominees. Traditionally, many civilian nominees had been approved through unanimous consent or voice votes without requiring lengthy floor debates or roll-call votes.

Republicans accused Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats of obstructing confirmations to limit Trump’s ability to reshape the federal government around his policy agenda.

In response, Republicans invoked the so-called “nuclear option” for the fourth time in Senate history, changing chamber rules to lower the threshold for advancing certain nominations from the standard 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster to a simple majority vote, Fox News reported.

The decision has been a good one, if not necessary; last year, the Senate confirmed over 400 of Trump’s nominees.

The confirmation pace also surpassed Trump’s first-term numbers during the same period, when the Senate confirmed 323 nominees during his first year in office.

It also exceeded the total reached by Joe Biden, who had 365 nominees confirmed over a comparable timeframe.

At the same time, Republicans are continuing work on another major component of Trump’s agenda: securing funding for immigration enforcement operations over the next three-and-a-half years.

Republicans are moving quickly through the budget reconciliation process to pass a $72 billion funding package for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the United States Border Patrol by June 1.

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