President Trump on Thursday doubled down on his call for the Senate to stay in session and confirm his nominees before breaking for their annual August recess.
“The Senate must stay in Session, taking no recess, until the entire Executive Calendar is CLEAR!!! We have to save our Country from the Lunatic Left,” Trump wrote Thursday night on Truth Social. “Republicans, for the health and safety of the USA, DO YOUR JOB, and confirm All Nominees. They should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump’s demand has been a consistent rallying cry in the past few weeks, as the Senate gears up for its extended break, with several key nominations remaining in limbo. He notably pressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to keep Senate Republicans in town, with Thune saying last week he could consider the move.
“We’re thinking about it. We want to get as many [nominations] through the pipeline as we can,” Thune said.
On Wednesday, Thune told reporters that there is an expanding interest within the Senate GOP conference for a potential rule change that would accelerate the confirmation process amid the Democrats’ effort to slow-walk progress.
“There’s certainly interest in looking at options that might enable us to break the logjam and expedite consideration of nominees in a way that, in the end, would benefit both parties when their party has the presidency,” Thune said, according to CBS News.
GOP lawmakers have argued that Democrats’ strategy is a break from tradition from how Republicans acted toward nominees of then-President Biden. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office disagreed, with the spokesperson saying in a statement that “Historically bad nominees deserve historic levels of scrutiny.”
