Senate Republicans on Thursday bulldozed past Senate precedents and changed the rules to break a Democratic blockade of President Trump’s nominees, in an extraordinary move that is likely to undercut Congress’s future role in vetting executive branch officials.
The change, pushed through along party lines, lowered the existing 60-vote threshold for considering a group of presidential nominees to a simple majority, weakening the ability of individual senators to block nominees they find objectionable. It was the latest step in a yearslong back-and-forth between the two parties that has eroded the filibuster, a once-potent Senate tool to protect the rights of the minority and force consensus.
In this case, Republicans resorted to the move in an effort to steer around Democratic obstruction of Mr. Trump’s nominees, which has created a backlog of more than 100, angering the president and frustrating his allies in Congress. They framed it as a necessary step to grease the wheels of a chamber mired in partisan rancor and to return the Senate to its longstanding norm of confirming lower-level nominees without individual votes.
“For two centuries, most presidential nominees have sailed through this chamber by voice vote and by unanimous consent,” said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Republican. “That was the gold standard of advice and consent. Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats abandoned it.”
Democrats, vocally opposed to Mr. Trump’s policies and tactics, have demanded that every position be subject to individual consideration, delaying the approval of the president’s nominees and cluttering the Senate schedule. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said the change would do irreparable damage to the Senate and its constitutional prerogatives, rendering it “a conveyor belt for unqualified Trump nominees.”
“We are supposed to debate and take votes on nominees, especially when the executive branch is grossly breaking norms by sending us woefully unqualified, unscrupulous, and in some cases deeply dishonest individuals for powerful and important positions,” he said.
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The post Breaking Precedent, G.O.P. Changes Rules on Nominees appeared first on New York Times.
