Thune’s bid to change rules for nominees faces GOP opposition

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) faces a difficult test in rallying GOP colleagues to change the Senate’s rules to speed up the confirmation of approximately 140 Trump nominees.

Changing the Senate’s procedural rules with a simple-majority vote is sometimes called the “nuclear option” because it’s viewed as an extreme tactic.

In this case, many Republicans are ready to go “nuclear” because they think Democrats are unfairly holding up a number of lower-level, noncontroversial nominees.

Democrats have refused to confirm a single civilian Trump appointee by voice vote or unanimous consent during his first six-and-a-half months in office.  

But Thune still needs to sell a handful of members on the change, including Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who aren’t yet on board with a proposal to weaken individual senators’ ability to hold up nominees.