The Senate confirmed over 100 of President Trump's nominees at once, making it the largest single group to advance yet.
Republicans in the Senate have been making up for lost time after Democrats spent several months blocking routine nominations, resulting in a large backlog, the Washington Times reports.
Breaking with Senate norms, Democrats under Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-Ny.) had refused to even consider confirming any Trump nominees by voice vote or unanimous consent, which have traditionally been used to quickly fill lower-level positions.
After months of unprecedented Democrat obstruction, Republicans changed the Senate rules to allow bloc votes on sub-Cabinet executive branch nominees.
Republicans cleared an initial group of 48 nominees in September, including the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Greece.
The new group of hires includes former NFL star Herschel Walker, who ran for the Senate as a Republican back in 2022. Walker was confirmed to be Trump's ambassador to the Bahamas, which has not had a U.S. ambassador in 15 years.
The new hires also include 16 U.S. attorneys, over two dozen ambassadors, and employees of various other executive departments, the Washington Times reported.
The 51-47 vote comes as the parties continue to point fingers over the ongoing government shutdown, which has left thousands of federal workers missing paychecks.
There is no end in sight to the impasse as Schumer and his fellow Democrats continue to make health care demands, while Republicans insist on a "clean" resolution to end the shutdown without policy attachments.
Republicans need at least eight Democrats to overcome the 60-vote filibuster, but only three have crossed the aisle, so far.
For now, Republicans are touting the end of the Democrats' "blockade" on nominees as a step forward.
“Before Senate Democrats shut down the federal government, they shut down the Senate floor – freezing the confirmation process. For months, their blockade created a growing backlog of qualified, bipartisan nominees. Tonight, Senate Republicans confirmed 107 of those qualified nominees and ended the Democrats’ confirmation blockade,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (Wy.).
“President Trump now has much of his team in place and ready to get to work for the American people,” he added.
The backlog is now down to 26 nominees after Tuesday's vote, Axios reported, including 16 executive branch nominees and 10 court picks. Despite the rules change, judicial nominees still require individual votes.
