Thune: Senate Republicans Break Confirmation Records Amid Historic Obstruction

Click here to watch the video.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune's remarks below (as delivered):

"Mr. President, either today or tomorrow, we will confirm another nominations package, bringing the total number of the president's nominees confirmed this year to more than 400.

"That number far exceeds total confirmations in the first year of both President Trump's previous term and President Biden's.

"So it's an impressive number all on its own.

"But it's particularly impressive when you consider the obstacles Democrats have put up.

"Mr. President, I'm not exaggerating when I say that President Trump's nominees have faced a historic level of obstruction from Senate Democrats.

"When you look at this term, President Trump remains the only president on record not to have had a single civilian nomination confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.

"Let me repeat that, Mr. President.

"President Trump remains the only president on record not to have had a single civilian nomination confirmed by unanimous consent or voice vote.

"Democrats have required a roll call vote on every single one of the president's nominations - an unprecedented level of obstruction in modern times.

"Now, of course Democrats would like you to believe that they've engaged in this historic level of obstruction because the president has put up, in the words of the Democrat leader, 'historically bad nominees.'

"The only problem, Mr. President, is that a lot of these nominees have gotten Democrat votes on final passage.

"So either Democrats are voting for historically bad nominees, or else something else has been going on here.

"Something else that looks a lot like petty partisanship.

"It became abundantly clear a while ago that the real reason Democrats have been dragging out nominations for assistant administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is nothing more than petty politics.

"Democrats cannot deal with the fact that the American people elected President Trump.

"And so they've engaged in this pointless political obstruction in revenge.

"Republicans, however, have not been daunted.

"We've just kept plowing through confirmations, racking up an impressive number of hours in session - and a historic number of votes - in the process.

"And in September we took steps to restore Senate precedent on largely noncontroversial presidential nominees to ensure that no other president has to face the kind of petty partisanship that President Trump has encountered.

"When the American people elect a president, they expect that president to be able to get his or her team in place.

"That doesn't mean that senators should never oppose nominations, but it does mean that nominations should not be held up for purely partisan reasons.

"Or in the words of the Democrat leader just a few short years ago, and I quote: 'That doesn't mean we don't disagree. But it does mean when nominees are held up, opposed, or blocked-it's for a legitimate purpose, not for leverage in partisan games, to score political points at the expense of public safety.'

"Democrats have engaged in a lot of partisan games this year, Mr. President.

"But Republicans have just kept doing our jobs.

"And I'm proud of just how much we've accomplished on nominations.

"And I look forward to continuing to get the president's team in place in the new year."

Permalink: https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/12/thune-senate-republicans-break-confirmation-records-amid-historic-obstruction