by WorldTribune Staff, August 1, 2025 Real World News
The Senate was scheduled to begin its annual summer recess at the end of this week. Not so fast. President Donald Trump said the only way to cut through the Democrats’ obstructionist strategy is to keep the Senate in session until “the executive calendar is clear.”
Currently, there is a backlog of more than 150 judicial and executive-branch nominees that have been reported out of committee and are awaiting a floor vote.
But being out of the majority does not sit well with Democrats and analysts say since they have essentially no power all they can do is make Trump as uncomfortable as possible in his second term by holding up his nominees through procedural hurdles.
With the exception of some military promotions, zero civilian nominees have been confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent during Trump’s second term, which Republicans have called an unprecedented obstruction.
Joe Biden had 46 civilian nominees confirmed via voice vote by July 29, 2021. Trump had five confirmed via voice vote by that date during his first term. In the first Obama and George W. Bush administrations, the late July numbers were closer to 200.
Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social:
The Senate must stay in Session, taking no recess, until the entire Executive Calendar is CLEAR!!! We have to save our Country from the Lunatic Left. Republicans, for the health and safety of the USA, DO YOUR JOB, and confirm All Nominees. They should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
On Thursday, the Senate confirmed five of Trump’s nominees by running through all required hurdles. If they were to work that at that pace for all the nominees on the executive calendar, the Senate would have to give up its entire August recess.
Some Republicans have said they’re prepared to do that.
“I agree with President Trump,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming Republican, posted on social media. “The Senate should stay as long as needed to get these qualified nominees confirmed. Let’s get it done!”
Senate Republicans “have also been mulling alternatives to speed up confirmation,” Lindsey McPherson wrote for The Washington Times on Aug. 1. “One option is to change the Senate rules to cut down the amount of debate time or to allow groups of nominees to be voted on en bloc. They could use the ‘nuclear option’ to change the rules without Democrats’ help.”
McPherson added: “Another option is allowing Trump to bypass the Senate and make recess appointments, which would require Congress to pass a concurrent resolution allowing the chambers to adjourn for more than three days. The Supreme Court has said Congress must adjourn for at least 10 days for a president to make recess appointments.”
In another Truth Social post shortly after his push to get his nominees confirmed, Trump took a swing at one of the Republican senators who sometimes votes against his desires, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. Collins voted against Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and his $9 billion rescissions package.
Republicans, when in doubt, vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins. Generally speaking, you can’t go wrong. Thank you for your attention to this matter and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
The House left Washington for its summer break without voting on an adjournment resolution, so the chamber would have to come back into session if the Senate were to pursue this option.
Not so fast: It’s August but Trump presses Senate to stay in session added by Editor Two on
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