Senate Confirms Sean McMaster to Lead FHWA
After Changing Senate Rules, 48 Trump Nominees Are Confirmed at Once
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WASHINGTON — The Senate has at once, voting for the first time under new rules to begin clearing a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed by Democrats.
Among the confirmed are Sean McMaster as administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, Jonathan Morrison as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Paul Roberti as administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Frustrated by the stalling tactics, Senate Republicans moved last week to make it easier to confirm large groups of lower-level, non-judicial nominations. Democrats had forced multiple votes on almost every one of Trump’s picks, infuriating the president and tying up the Senate floor.
The new rules allow Senate Republicans to move multiple nominees with a simple majority vote — a process that would have previously been blocked with just one objection. The rules don’t apply to judicial nominations or high-level Cabinet posts.
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“Republicans have fixed a broken process,” Thune said ahead of the vote.
The Senate voted 51-47 to confirm the four dozen nominees. Thune said that those confirmed on Sept. 18 had all received bipartisan votes in committee, including deputy secretaries for the Departments of Defense, Interior, Energy and others.
Among the confirmed are Kimberly Guilfoyle as U.S. ambassador to Greece. Guilfoyle is a former California prosecutor and television news personality who led the fundraising for Trump’s 2020 campaign and was once engaged to Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
Big day for ! The Senate confirmed Sean McMaster as the 22nd Administrator of , Jonathan Morrison as the 17th Administrator of , and Paul Roberti as the 6th Administrator of .
Together, we’re delivering on ’ vision to get America moving… — Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy)
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. Both parties have obstructed each other’s nominees for years, and senators in both parties have advocated for speeding up the process when they are in the majority.
Republicans first proposed changing the rules in 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.
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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats are delaying the nominations because Trump’s nominees are “historically bad.” And he 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.
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“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 last week.
Republicans will move to confirm a second tranche of nominees in the coming weeks, gradually clearing the list of more than 100 nominations that have been pending for months.
“There will be more to come,” Thune said Sept. 18. “And we’ll ensure that President Trump’s administration is filled at a pace that looks more like those of his predecessors.”
