“If these nominees have something to hide, these documents could show it. So, it’s important we don’t rush to hearings
without examining the record first.” — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
As a result, in the administration’s
first 100 days, every one of Trump’s confirmed nominees, other than Sec- retary of State Marco Rubio and Sec- retary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, required a cloture vote to end debate on their nomination. While these delaying tactics have
plete the required paperwork and financial disclosures. “Getting documents is not trivial
busy work,” New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said on the Senate floor in January. “If these nominees have something
to hide, these documents could show it. So, it’s important we don’t rush to hearings without examining the record first.” Republicans, however, accuse the Democrats of politically motivated stalling. Unable to block Trump’s “big beau-
tiful” spending bill and other propos- als, they say Democrats are using Sen- ate rules and procedures for payback and political blackmail to block the president’s proposals and drag out the confirmation of nominees they lack the votes to block.
and Senate, some Republicans are concerned that the rule changes are likely to be used against them if they once more become the minority. Tillis also said he opposed another idea Senate conservatives have discussed to resolve the confirmation backlog — letting Trump make recess appointments. Consider the case of Ed Martin, Trump’s
become increasingly common under both Democrat and Republican admin- istrations, they have been used more often during Trump’s first 200 days than during any prior administration. Just before the congressional recess
in August, Senate Republicans tried but failed to overcome stiff Democrat resis- tance to approving Trump’s nominees. As recess approached, The New
York Times reported that Schumer offered to remove procedural obsta- cles to the confirmation of 25 relatively noncontroversial nominees if South Dakota’s Sen. John Thune, the major- ity leader, along with the White House, agreed to release funds it had withheld — $5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $142 million for UNICEF programs, $50 million for combating AIDS overseas, and $300 million in humanitarian assistance for Gaza. When Thune pressed for more con- firmations, Schumer insisted that the
initial nominee to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, whom Tillis adamantly opposed. Asked whether he would
consider opening the door to recess appointments, Tillis snapped to The Hill before the congressional recess: “Not if it lays the groundwork for an Ed Martin.” Murkowski and other
White House assure Democrats in writ- ing that it would not try to force more spending cuts through Congress before Oct. 1. The Republicans balked, and the negotiations collapsed. Frustrated by the lack of action,
Trump blasted Schumer and other Democrats on his social media site. “Go to hell!” he thundered on Truth Social. By delaying the summer recess, how-
ever, Thune managed to win confirma- tion of a batch of nominees, among them some of Trump’s more contro- versial choices, such as Emil Bove III, Trump’s former lawyer, for an appeals court post, and Jeanine Pirro, former Fox News host, as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Still, Trump ended his first six
months in office with only 135 confir- mations and more than 140 nominees awaiting confirmation to top executive branch posts. Biden, by contrast, got 150 of his nominees confirmed within the same period in 2021 — nearly half of them by voice vote.
Judith Miller is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and an expert on U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East.
influential Republicans, including former Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have expressed concern more generally about relinquishing a senator’s rights and prerogatives in favor of the ever-expanding power of the White House and executive branch.
Earlier this year, despite
intense White House pressure, McConnell opposed several of Trump’s most controversial nominees, including former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Defense Department secretary, vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services, and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. — J.M.
OCTOBER 2025 | NEWSMAX 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
