Trump nominations package hits stumbling block in Senate
Senate Republicans hit a temporary stumbling block in their latest effort to confirm dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
Democrats blocked Republicans from successfully taking an initial step toward confirming a package of more than 80 nominations because one of the picks doesn't qualify to be included: Sara Bailey's nomination to be the director of national drug control policy is a senior-level pick requiring individual consideration under the new rules Republicans themselves drafted earlier this year for multinominee confirmation votes.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who challenged whether the package could get passed with a simple majority if Bailey’s nomination stayed included, said in a statement that “I just blocked 88 Trump nominees from confirmation.”
He added, “I will not allow unqualified nominees, this White House, or the President to undermine the rule of law and our national security.”
Republicans re-filed the resolution Thursday afternoon with additional nominees, bringing the list to 97 nominations and teeing up a vote next week. That will also pave the way for another series of votes on confirming the nominees, which currently include 13 U.S. attorney designees and dozens of sub-Cabinet appointments.
A Senate GOP aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that the additional nominees will put the Senate on track to confirm 420 nominees.
“Until Senator Bennet spoke up, we were on track to confirm less than 410. Our sincere thank you to master strategist Michael Bennet," the GOP aide added.
