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On The Hill

BREAKING THE BLOCKADE! Senate GOP Confirms 48 Trump Nominees at Once, Ends Dem Delay Tactics

posted by Hannity Staff - 9.18.25

Thune & Co. break the blockade.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump’s nominees in a single vote — the first time under new rules Republicans pushed through to break a backlog of executive branch appointments stalled by Democrats.

Frustrated by months of obstruction, Senate Republicans last week changed the rules to streamline confirmations of lower-level, non-judicial posts. Democrats had forced repeated roll calls on nearly every Trump pick, tying up the chamber’s work and infuriating the president.

The new rules allow simple majority approval of large groups of nominees at once — eliminating the ability of Democrats to drag out the process with a single objection. Judicial nominations and top Cabinet posts are unaffected.

“Republicans have fixed a broken process,” Senate GOP whip John Thune said ahead of the vote.

The Senate approved the package 51-47, confirming dozens of appointees who had already cleared committee with bipartisan support, including deputy secretaries at the Departments of Defense, Interior and Energy.

Among those confirmed were Jonathan Morrison as head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Kimberly Guilfoyle as U.S. ambassador to Greece. Guilfoyle, a former California prosecutor and television personality, was a leading fundraiser for Trump’s 2020 campaign and is the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr.

Thune’s move represents the latest GOP effort to overcome what they call bad-faith obstruction from Democrats. For more than a decade both parties have chipped away at Senate filibuster traditions, but Republicans argue the changes were necessary to keep government functioning.

The push followed a breakdown in bipartisan talks before the August recess, when Trump blasted Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to “GO TO HELL!” on social media.