“Republicans must play to win. Clear the 135. So badly needed!” said President Donald Trump in a Saturday Truth Social post. What did he mean and what does it have to do with the U.S. Senate’s upcoming recess?
First, we’ll cover the nominees. Trump was responding to a post from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who said: “The Senate shouldn’t recess before clearing the 135-nominee confirmation backlog.” Those nominees are people Trump has selected for key roles in his administration.
As Trump urges senators to tidy up the backlog, they are inching closer to their usual August recess. The Hill reported this week that “Senate Republicans are miffed that their House counterparts are leaving Washington early while they remain for at least another week and a half, despite already spending more time in session this year.”
While House members got to go on their recess a day early, the Senate is expected to break at the end of next week. That’s if Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) doesn’t follow Trump’s call to scrap part of the recess in order to push nominations through.
According to the Partnership for Public Service, the president has picked 356 nominees so far. It also said that 102 had been confirmed and 254 were awaiting confirmation as of Friday morning. Some of the more high-profile appointments have included Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Over the last six months, the Senate has moved at a breakneck pace to confirm the president’s nominees all while facing resistance from Senate Democrats,” said Fox News this Monday. A few days later Axios reported that Democrats aren’t the only ones slowing things down, noting that “a trio of Trump nominees is running into Republican resistance on the confirmation front, exposing ideological rifts the party has mostly papered over for nominations.”
That “trio” of nominees included Mike Waltz as ambassador to the United Nations, meeting resistance from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who also opposed the GOP’s recent “One Big Beautiful Bill” spending package. However, the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post said his nomination was reported out of committee favorably Thursday.
Another of the three is Emil Bove, a former defense attorney for Trump who the president nominated for judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have told reporters they will vote against Bove’s appointment.
Paul Ingrassia is the other nomination meeting GOP resistance, Axios said. Trump nominated Ingrassia to the Office of the Special Counsel.
“It’s pretty apparent to me he’s not ready for prime time,” Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told NBC News of Ingrassia. Furthermore, Axios reported that multiple sources said Ingrassia “bombed” in a committee meeting. As of June 16, his nomination was referred to the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, according to The Post.
As Trump called for senators to get through the backlog, he was in Scotland, where he visited his Trump Turnberry golf course. He also said he had “many meetings” planned and hinted at a ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia.