Overview

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he will start the procedural steps Monday with a final vote expected later this week to speed confirmations of President Trump’s nominees.
• The plan would permit en bloc votes for lower-level executive branch nominees while excluding judicial appointments and most Cabinet-level posts.
• About 149 nominees have cleared committee and await floor action, and Republicans say more than 100 could be approved quickly if the change is adopted.
• GOP leaders are adapting a 2023 proposal from Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Angus King, with a more expansive approach to the size of nomination groups.
• Democrats argue the shift undermines advice-and-consent, while Republicans—who hold 53 seats—say they have the simple-majority needed to implement it through the nuclear option.