Senate Breaks for August After Nominations Stalemate

After repeatedly demanding that the Senate remain in session to confirm dozens of Trump appointees, President Donald Trump finally relented late Saturday, posting on social media that Republicans should instead “go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are.” This post followed a series of contentious negotiations between the two parties over a potential “wrap-up package” that would have seen several nominees get confirmed by voice vote. Democrats were pushing for a series of spending-related concessions in exchange for approving these nominees, including “unfreezing” funding that is being withheld by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as well as committing to no additional rescissions packages this Congress. This was viewed as a nonstarter by Senate Republicans, but Leader Thune was unable to move forward with a change to the Senate rules that would’ve sped up the time for considering pending nominees. As such, the Senate will return in September with more than 100 nominations to work through, in addition to the Sept. 30 government funding deadline.