Kansas Dems (@kansasdems.bsky.social)

Senate GOP confirms final tranche of Trump nominees before break Republicans have confirmed 97 of President Donald Trump’s picks to serve in his administration — the final bloc of nominees that will get through before the Senate heads home for the year. The 53-43 vote Thursday night represents the third nominations tranche Republicans have confirmed since they changed the rules earlier this year to allow for most executive branch nominees to be confirmed simultaneously. “One of our priorities this year has been ensuring that the president has his team in place so that he can do the job the American people elected him to do,” said Majority Leader John Thune. As of Thursday’s vote, the Senate has confirmed 417 of Trump’s nominees since January. That’s more than the 365 his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, got confirmed during his first year in office – or the 323 Trump saw confirmed during the first year of his first term. The confirmation vote is one of the final things left on the Senate’s to-do list before lawmakers leave for the holiday recess. Senators are also voting Thursday night to take up Joshua Simmons’ nomination to be general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency and could vote on a government funding package, too. Under the Senate’s rules, Democrats can force unconfirmed nominees to be “sent back” to the White House at the end of the year. This procedural maneuver would force Trump to renominate any picks that Democrats do not allow to be “held over.” Republicans are expecting Democrats to make them send back most, if not all, of their unconfirmed nominees — a move that No. 2 Senate Democrat Dick Durbin characterized as “customary.” http://dlvr.it/TPvLvR