Senate Minority Whip John Thune after the Senate policy luncheon in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2025. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Senate Republicans argued that a majority of their counterparts agreed with the new proposal, but that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was still standing in the way.
"I think the majority of Democrats are on board with it," Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. "And Schumer is blocking it from actually having consent to come to the floor."
The failed deal was a modified version of a proposal first unveiled by Senate Democrats in 2023, and would have allowed 15 nominees to be batched together en bloc and voted on while still requiring two hours of debate for the group.
THUNE LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR NUCLEAR OPTION IN SENATE FIGHT OVER TRUMP NOMINEES
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he leaves the White House in Washington, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., fired back "how much time is enough?"
"Give me a break," he said. "Two years. Not long enough. How about eight months? Eight months of this."
With the prospects of bipartisan deal to move nominees through Democrats' blockade, Senate Republicans are expected to continue down the path of the "nuclear option."
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That means that their initial proposal, which would allow for an unlimited number of sub-cabinet level nominees to be voted on en bloc with 30 hours of debate tacked on, is expected to pass with a simple majority, and effectively change the confirmation process in the Senate.
"We are achingly close to doing this like adults," Schatz said.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-gop-hurtles-toward-nuclear-option-after-deal-dems-falls-apart