Thune: Republicans Reverse Course on Democrats’ Historic Obstruction

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune's remarks below (as delivered):

"Mr. President, later today the Senate will move forward on amending the Senate rules to restore the Senate precedent of en bloc confirmation of presidential nominees.

"I've spent plenty of time here on the floor explaining why we're having to take this step.

"The longtime practice of the Senate was expeditious confirmation of presidential nominations, often in blocks, using the procedural mechanism of voice vote or unanimous consent.

"That didn't mean rubber-stamping every nominee, but it did mean that the Senate allowed the president to assemble his team so that he could carry out the job for which he was elected.

"But over the years, Democrats have steadily eroded that bipartisan tradition - first during President George W. Bush's administration, then, dramatically, during the first Trump administration, and finally to where we are today.

"And where we are today is beyond erosion, Mr. President.

"Democrats have flat-out broken the Senate confirmation process.

"We are more than seven months into President Trump's current term.

"And the Senate has yet to confirm one single civilian nominee by unanimous consent or voice vote.

"Now, to put that into perspective, by this point in his administration President Biden had had 76 civilian nominees confirmed by voice vote.

"Seventy-six.

"President Trump has not had one - the first president on record to be in this position.

"The first president on record, Mr. President.

"Democrats have dragged out the process on every single civilian nominee - including on nominees they ended up supporting on final passage.

"Sixty-two out of the 139 nominees we've confirmed have been confirmed with Democrat support.

"Democrats have refused to voice vote any of them.

"Why?

"Petty partisanship, Mr. President.

"Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

"The Democrat leader, of course, would claim that it's because we're dealing with 'historically bad' nominees.

"But I won't waste time today debunking that.

"I don't need to.

"It's been debunked for me, by the fact that close to half of President Trump's nominees have received Democrat support on final passage.

"And by the scores of Trump nominees who have emerged from committee with bipartisan support.

"No, this isn't about 'historically bad' nominees.

"This is about petty partisanship.

"Democrats - and their political base - cannot deal with the fact that the American people elected President Trump.

"And so they're dragging out every confirmation in retaliation.

"Mr. President, it would be fine if this Democrat temper tantrum didn't affect anyone else.

"But Democrats' historic obstruction is having serious consequences.

"In addition to the obvious problem of delays in filling important positions in the administration, having to engage in the time-consuming cloture process on every nominee ties up the Senate floor, preventing us from considering important legislation.

"Advice and consent on presidential nominations is part of our job as senators.

"But it's not the only part of our job.

"The Senate is first and foremost a legislative body.

"But that primary role is getting crowded out by the need to be constantly considering nominations.

"Mr. President, when I became majority leader I made it clear that one of my priorities was to get the Senate functioning again.

"And the Senate can't function effectively as a legislative body with the confirmation process in the state that it's in right now.

"So today the Senate will move forward on amending the rules to restore the longstanding precedent of confirming presidential nominees expeditiously.

"It would have been nice not to have to go through this process.

"I think there are a lot of Democrats who are aware that they've created an untenable situation, and it would have been nice to see them acknowledge that and to move to return to longtime Senate precedent.

"But despite extended efforts to engage Democrats, we still haven't gotten to a solution to the problem that they created.

"And time's about to run out.

"One way or another, we're going to fix this today.

"Fix it, and restore the longtime Senate precedent of expeditious confirmation - and the Senate's role as first and foremost a legislative body.

"It's not too late for my Democrat colleagues to join us.

"I invite them to do so."

Permalink: https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/9/thune-republicans-reverse-course-on-democrats-historic-obstruction