Senate Republicans confirm 48 Trump nominees under new rules

Senate Republicans on Thursday confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump's nominees en bloc, marking the first time the chamber used new rules under its nuclear option.

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

Senate Republicans last week moved to implement the nuclear option, which makes it easier to confirm large groups of lower-level, non-judicial nominations with one swift majority vote instead of allowing the nominees to be bogged down over a single Democratic objection. 

The first block consisted of people nominated for mid-level executive branch positions and ambassadorships, according to Politico. They were confirmed in a party-line 51-47 vote and included confirming Kimberly Guilfoyle to be ambassador to Greece and Callista Gingrich to be ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

“If the Senate had continued at the pace that we’ve been proceeding at through the month of July, there would still be hundreds of empty desks in the executive branch on President Trump’s last day in office in 2029,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.

The nuclear option was previously floated by Senate Democrats in 2023, which would have allowed the Senate to confirm up to 10 nominees under a single vote.

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