Senate GOP Hold Vote to Change Rules   09/12 06:02

   Senate Republicans took the first steps to change the chamber's rules on 
Thursday, moving to make it easier to confirm groups of President Donald 
Trump's nominees after last-minute negotiations with Democrats fell apart.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans took the first steps to change the 
chamber's rules on Thursday, moving to make it easier to confirm groups of 
President Donald Trump's nominees after last-minute negotiations with Democrats 
fell apart.

   Senate Majority Leader John Thune's move is the latest salvo after a dozen 
years of gradual changes by both parties to weaken the filibuster and make the 
nominations process more partisan. He has said the Democrats' obstruction is 
"unsustainable" as they have drawn out the confirmation process and infuriated 
Trump as many positions in his administration have remained unfilled.

   "We're going to fix this today, and restore the longtime Senate precedent of 
expeditious confirmation, and the Senate's role as first and foremost a 
legislative body," Thune said.

   The Senate on Thursday evening moved forward on the proposed rule change 
with a 45-53 party line vote. The new rules proposal would allow the Senate to 
move some of Trump's nominees in groups of 48 at a time. The Republican rules 
change stops short of speeding up votes on high-level Cabinet officials and 
lifetime judicial appointments.

   Republicans will have to go through additional procedural steps next week 
for the process to be complete. And if all goes according to their plan, the 
first tranche of Trump's nominees -- undersecretaries and staff positions for 
various agencies across the government as well as several ambassadors -- could 
be confirmed as soon as next Thursday.

   The effort to change the rules comes as both parties have obstructed each 
other's nominees for years, and as both Republicans and Democrats have 
advocated for speeding up the process when they are in the majority.

   Republicans have been pushing the rules change since early August, when the 
Senate left for a monthlong recess after a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations 
over the confirmation process and Trump told Senate Democratic Leader Chuck 
Schumer to "GO TO HELL!" on social media.

   Democrats have blocked more nominees than ever before as they have struggled 
to find ways to oppose Trump and the GOP-dominated Congress, and as their 
voters have pushed them to fight Republicans at every turn. It's the first time 
in recent history that the minority party hasn't allowed at least some quick 
confirmations.

   Schumer has said Democrats are delaying the nominations because Trump's 
nominees are "historically bad."

   "We're supposed to debate and take votes on nominees, especially when the 
executive branch is grossly breaking norms by sending us woefully unqualified, 
unscrupulous, and in some cases, deeply dishonest individuals for powerful and 
important positions," Schumer said in a floor speech following the votes.

   Still, Democrats continued talks with Republicans into Thursday afternoon as 
Republicans delayed their votes for almost five hours. The two sides discussed 
a compromise that would have limited the groups of nominees to 15 and shortened 
the length of debate.

   But in the end, they were not able to agree. Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of 
Hawaii said they had been "achingly close to a deal."

   "But I am afraid my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have run out 
of patience," he added.

   "The Senate is stuck," said Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a Republican who 
led the negotiations. "The challenge is this body has just broken down trust."

   Having abandoned the bipartisan talks, Republicans advanced their original 
plan to hold several procedural votes that allow them to change the Senate 
rules for confirming presidential nominees. As part of the vote series, they 
asked to "appeal the chair," or change the rules, which takes a simple majority 
vote.

   "How much time is enough?" Thune, R-S.D., angrily asked Democrats as he 
moved to resume votes. He said that the deal under discussion was based on a 
Democratic proposal when President Joe Biden was in office and that the two 
parties had already been negotiating for weeks.

   "We've got to fix this," Thune said. "It's time to vote."

   Schumer has told Republicans that they will "come to regret" their action -- 
echoing a similar warning from GOP Leader Mitch McConnell to then-Majority 
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2013, when Democrats changed Senate rules for 
executive branch and lower court judicial nominees to remove the 60-vote 
threshold for confirmations. At the time, Republicans were blocking President 
Barack Obama's picks.

   Republicans took the Senate majority a year later, and McConnell eventually 
did the same for Supreme Court nominees in 2017 as Democrats tried to block 
Trump's nomination of Justice Neil Gorsuch.

   "What Republicans have done is chip away at the Senate even more, to give 
Donald Trump more power and to rubber stamp whomever he wants, whenever he 
wants them, no questions asked," Schumer said.