Senate Republicans are mulling whether to go nuclear after negotiations with Senate Democrats to ram through President Donald Trump’s nominees fell apart over the weekend. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Now, lawmakers have left Washington without a deal to bundle dozens of nominees that made it through committee with bipartisan support, and a change to how the Senate handles the confirmation process is on the horizon.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., berated Schumer and Senate Democrats for their "unprecedented" blocks of the president’s nominees, and noted that every pick had been filibustered save for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who glided through the Senate earlier this year.
"We have been working through the list, but there is still a large backlog because of the unprecedented filibuster by the Democrats of every nominee," Barrasso said. "And if they don’t change their behavior, we’re going to have to change how things are done here, because a president needs to have his or her team in place."
DEMS DIG IN, TRUMP DEMANDS ALL: NOMINEE FIGHT BOILS OVER IN SENATE AS GOP LOOKS FOR A DEAL
Senate Majority Leader John Thune pauses while speaking to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on July 1, 2025. (Getty Images/Andrwe Harnik)
Currently, over 1,200 positions go through Senate confirmation. Senate Republicans have been able to confirm over 130 of Trump’s picks so far, but had a loftier goal of doing at least 60 more before leaving town until September.
And there are over 140 nominees still pending on the Senate’s calendar.
"I think they're desperately in need of change," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. "I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations, is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that."
As to when lawmakers will try to run with a rules change is still in the air. The Senate is gone from Washington until early September and will return to a looming deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.
Before leaving town, the Senate did advance a trio of spending bills – a first in the upper chamber since 2018 – but those same bills are unlikely to pass muster in the House, given that they spend at higher levels than the ones greenlit by the House GOP.
Ramming a rules change through without Democrats could also come at a price for government funding negotiations. Schumer said a possible rules change would be a "huge mistake" for Republicans to do on their own.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Because when they go at it alone, they screw up for the American people and for themselves," he said.
When asked if there were any possible rule changes that he and Senate Democrats could agree to, Schumer said, "We should be working together on legislation to get things done for the American people."
"That's the way to go, not changing the rules, because when they change the rules, they say, ‘Only we're going to decide what's good for the American people,’ and every time they do that, the American people lose," Schumer said.
Still, Republicans were unhappy with the way negotiations devolved after days of back and forth.
"We actually, we wanted a deal," Mullin said. "And these people deserve to be put in position… they're going to say that we're trying to do a nuclear option. The fact is, they – Schumer – went nuclear a long time."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-gop-ready-go-nuclear-after-schumers-political-extortion-nominees