Senate Republicans advance nuclear option to confirm key Trump nominees

Senate Republicans on Thursday moved forward with a plan to change chamber rules and use the "nuclear option" to confirm some people President Donald Trump has nominated to serve in important judicial posts.

The Senate has been in gridlock on the nominees after Democrats used various roadblocks to delay the confirmations earlier this year. Senate Republicans hoped to avoid using the partisan tactic, but failed to find a bipartisan solution.

Senate Republicans voted to change the rules and use the tactic in a 53-45 vote along party lines, per Politico. The Senate will still need to finalize the rule change in a floor vote next week, but it tees up the confirmation of 48 Trump nominees.

“I made it clear that one of my priorities was to get the Senate functioning again, and the Senate can’t function effectively as a legislative body with the confirmation process in the state that it’s in right now,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters before the vote. 

Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said he was shocked at the move because senators were working toward a bipartisan solution earlier in the day and had suggested continuing talks over the weekend.

“How much time is enough?" Thune responded. "The proposal that we are voting on … has been around for two years.”

Other potential solutions to the gridlock that were floated last week included limiting debate time on a nomination from two hours to just minutes, making some nominations nondebatable and limiting the amount of procedural votes required for a nominee.

The nuclear option means that Republicans can confirm nominations now en bloc through a single vote. The proposal was first floated by Democrats in 2023 that allowed a single vote to confirm up to 10 nominees.

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