John Thune says Senate will stay in session through the weekend to confirm Trump nominees

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Friday told reporters that he would keep the upper chamber in session at least through the weekend in order to confirm some of President Donald Trump's outstanding nominees.

The move comes amid heightened tension over the confirmation process, with Senate Democrats slow-walking all the remaining nominees by demanding time-consuming votes on each person.

Trump has pushed the Senate to remain in session instead of breaking for their traditional August recess, including Thursday when he reminded senators that his nominees should not be "forced to wait" longer to be confirmed.

Thune said he would keep the Senate in session at least this weekend to work on the confirmations and to negotiate with Democrats to speed up consideration of dozens of nominees. However, he said some of the negotiations will be done between the White House and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“That will be up to the discussions between White House and Schumer and the Democrats,” Thune said. “That’s how this is going to get resolved. We’ll see where that leads.”

Senate Republicans worked hard on Friday to confirm or advance low-level nominees that would normally be approved quickly. But at least 150 nominees still need to be confirmed, including many judicial nominees, such as acting United States Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba.

Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso slammed Democrats on the chamber floor for their “unprecedented obstruction of the Senate nomination process.”

“President Trump is the only president in modern history not to have a single nominee confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent," Barrasso said. "Not a single one. Even the most routine nominees are being filibustered. 

"Positions that used to fly through by voice vote or unanimous consent are now treated and taken as political hostages," he continued. "This isn’t normal. This is petty partisan politics at its worst."

The Senate was supposed to begin its month-long recess, where senators return to their home districts to meet with constituents, on Saturday. It is not clear when the recess will begin now.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.