Senate GOP leaders are preparing their members to sacrifice part of the traditional August recess to stay in Washington and vote on President Trump’s nominations that Democrats have held up with parliamentary moves.
Although almost half the Republican conference said it’s ready to work for as much as another couple of weeks, other GOP senators grumbled at the idea of staying in the capital.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters he was considering scheduling these votes in August, saying that Democrats broke precedent by not enabling the swift confirmation of any of Mr. Trump’s nominees.
“We’re thinking about it. We want to get as many [nominations] through the pipeline as we can,” Mr. Thune said at Monday’s press conference, noting it would be “nice to have” Democrats “act more according to historical precedents when it comes to this.”
He added, “Trump’s the first president in history that hasn’t had a [nomination] adopted by this point in his presidency either by unanimous consent or voice. Not a single one.
“Trying to get his team in place is something that we’re very committed to, and we’re going to be looking at all the options in the next few weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can.”
Senate Democrats began using a powerful procedural tool, the blue slip, in April to block Mr. Trump’s nominees for U.S. attorney positions by letting lawmakers halt White House judicial appointments in their home states.
The move has stymied numerous Trump judicial appointments and prevented the extension of interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba after the district’s majority Democratic-appointed judges decided to eject her after her 120-day term expired.
Mr. Trump on Saturday prodded Mr. Thune to keep the Senate in session this summer to get nominees confirmed.
“Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We need them badly!!!”
Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has said he’s willing to stay in Washington to confirm the president’s nominees, said the Democrats are “filibustering like every single nominee.”
“So, I guess if they want to be here for all of August and grind this out, we can do it that way, but it’s going to get pretty painful here pretty soon,” he said.
Democrats say they’re just following the Senate nomination rules, and it’s on the GOP as to how many nominees the president chooses to appoint.
“Well, the rules lay out the timing on the nominations. The majority decide how many nominations they’re doing,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat.
Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, said it would just be easier to change the Senate rules than work through the August recess.
“I don’t think we have to stay here through August to get the nominations done. We need to change the rules in the amount of time that people have to vote,” he said.
“When we have four votes in a row, the rule is you have to be here within 30 minutes of the vote, and that rule has gradually been extended and extended and extended. All we have to do is enforce the rules.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.