The US Senate confirmed 74 of President Donald Trump’s nominees in a single en bloc vote on Wednesday evening, marking a historic confirmation push ahead of the chamber’s August recess.
Senators voted 51-47 along party lines to approve the batch of executive branch nominees, which included new directors for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), along with ambassadors, federal prosecutors, and other officials.
The vote fell strictly along partisan lines, with Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky both absent from the chamber. No Democrats crossed party lines to support the nominees.
The nominees were drawn from across the federal government, including several at the Departments of Defense, Energy, and State. Among the confirmed picks were approximately 15 ambassadors, including one posted to war-torn Yemen, and a new Census Bureau director. Several new US Attorneys and members of the Federal Communications Commission were also included in the package.
The mass confirmation represents the fastest pace of Cabinet and executive confirmations for any president in recent history. By this point in his second term, Trump has now lapped the confirmation speed of both his first term and President Biden’s early months in office, according to tracking by the Washington Examiner.
The Senate’s decision to approve the nominees en bloc, rather than individually, came after weeks of bipartisan negotiations over the confirmation process broke down. Republicans had been pressing to confirm remaining nominees before leaving Washington for a monthlong recess, while Democrats argued the batch approach denied proper scrutiny of individual picks.
The confirmation surge caps a turbulent legislative period in which the Senate also passed sweeping sanctions on Russia and Iran, and President Trump has been pressuring leadership to advance his proof-of-citizenship voting bill. The chamber is now expected to adjourn for its August break, with lawmakers returning to a crowded legislative calendar in September.
With hundreds of additional nominees still awaiting floor votes, Senate Majority Leader John Thune faces a backlog that could intensify when the chamber reconvenes, particularly as Democrats signal continued opposition to many of Trump’s remaining judicial and executive picks.
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