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As lawmakers depart Washington for a month-long recess, more than 150 of President Donald Trump’s nominees remain in limbo, awaiting Senate confirmation or further action amid stalled proceedings and deepening partisan gridlock.
Key positions across Trump’s administration remain unfilled, with the judiciary and diplomatic posts bearing the brunt of the backlog.
Former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is still awaiting Senate confirmation for his nomination as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Likewise, Andrew Puzder has yet to be confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, an especially significant post given that the EU is one of America’s largest trading partners.
At the Department of Justice, Stanley Woodward is nominated to serve as associate attorney general, while Patrick Davis awaits confirmation as assistant attorney general for legislative affairs.
Nominations for several lawyers at U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Pennsylvania and South Dakota remain pending confirmation.
Congress left town on Saturday after confirming only a few nominees, with no bipartisan deal in place to advance the bulk of Trump’s pending appointments.
Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host and New York judge and prosecutor, was among the seven of Trump’s nominees swiftly confirmed on Saturday.
Pirro’s confirmation as U.S. Attorney for D.C. comes as dozens of interim prosecutors aligned with Trump’s judicial agenda approach the end of their 120-day term limit. After that, appointment to these key roles shifts to the courts if no Senate-confirmed successor is in place.
Following the collapse of bipartisan talks on Saturday, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune described the confirmation process as “broken,” emphasizing that Senate rules governing nominations are “desperately in need of change.”
Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said a rules change would be a “huge mistake” in speeding up the pace of confirmations.
He also added that lawmakers have “never seen nominees as flawed, as compromised, as unqualified as we have right now.”
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