Senate Republicans propose nuclear options after Trump candidate negotiations fail

Senate Republicans are considering whether to go nuclear after negotiations with Senate Democrats Donald Trump’s The weekend nominees collapsed.

The road to confirming dozens of Trump’s outstanding nominees was destroyed when the president accuses Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer“political blackmail” DN.Y., and accused Democratic leader of the nominee too high.

Trump told Schumer

Now, lawmakers have left Washington, no deal to tie up dozens of nominees through the committee with bipartisan support and change the way the Senate handles confirmation procedures.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. , Schumer and Senate Democrats “unprecedented” presidential nominees, noting that each draft pick is submitted to the Secretary of State. Marco Rubiohe slid past the Senate earlier this year.

“We’ve been on the list all the time, but there’s still a big backlog due to the unprecedented feud between Democrats of each nominee,” Barrasau said. “And if they don’t change their behavior, we’ll have to change the way they work here because the president needs to install his or her team.”

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Senator John Barrasso speaks to reporters at his weekly lunch on Capitol Hill on June 24, 2025. (tasos katopodis/getty image)

Under normal circumstances, changing the Senate rules would require 67 votes, meaning Senate Democrats must join in the change. But legislators call it the path of nuclear choice, which allows rule changes to require only a simple majority.

There is political will among Republicans to change the rules, but doing so will open the door to the same thing when Senate Democrats come to power again.

“I think it’s going to happen anyway because of Schumer’s actions. He forced this, and it’s ridiculous for him to do it.” Markwayne MullinR-Okla. explain. “So, anyway, we’re at this point, we’re going to do it, you know what they say, every move needs to be equal. [reaction]this is our goal now. ”

Some of the options on the table include shortening the debate time for nominees, getting rid of some low-level nominees’ procedural voting, grouping certain civilian nominees “En Bloc”, which is done for military nominees – at the committee level, deciding whether to reduce the number of nominees in the confirmed process.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune paused while talking to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on July 1, 2025. (Getty Images/Andrwe Harnik)

Currently, more than 1,200 positions have been confirmed by the Senate. Senate Republicans have been able to confirm Trump’s more than 130 draft picks so far, but have to do at least 60 times before leaving town to September.

The Senate calendar still has more than 140 nominees.

“I think they need change in a desperate situation,” Senate Majority Leader John ThuneRs.D. Tell reporters. “I think the past six months have proved the process and the nominations are broken. So, I hope there will be some good conversations about it.”

Actions about when lawmakers are trying to make rule changes are still airing. The Senate will return an imminent deadline from Washington to early September to avoid partial government closures.

Before leaving town, the Senate did come up with three spending bills, the first in the House of Lords since 2018 — but those bills are unlikely to pass the House Mustter because they spend more than House Gop’s Greenlit.

In the absence of a Democratic Party, changes that violate rules may also come at the cost of government-funded negotiations. Schumer said possible rule changes would be a “huge mistake” for Republicans themselves.

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“Because when they went alone, they messed up for the American people and themselves,” he said.

When asked if there are any possible rule changes Senate Democrats “We should work together to do things well for the American people,” Schumer said.

“That’s the way to go, not changing the rules, because when they change the rules, they say, ‘Only we have to decide what is good for the American people,’ and whenever they do, the American people lose it.”

Still, Republicans are unhappy with the way the negotiations change after a few days back and forth.

“We actually, we want a deal,” Mullin said. “And these guys should be put in place… They’re going to say we’re trying to make nuclear choices. The truth is, Schumer – nuclear – for a long time.”