Overview

• Republicans plan internal discussions as they return to Washington on how to accelerate confirmations after months of procedural slowdowns.
• Options under review include batch votes for lower-level picks, dropping the separate cloture vote, and cutting debate time below two hours.
• Barrasso cites a backlog of roughly 145 nominees awaiting floor action and only about 135 confirmations completed across more than 1,000 posts.
• Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, defend the strategy as warranted scrutiny, with Schumer publicly embracing the use of delay tactics.
• A bid to trade faster votes for unfreezing federal funds collapsed earlier this month, and GOP leaders are also weighing recess appointments despite reservations in their ranks.