Senate Republicans get back to work Tuesday with a lengthy list of priorities, including government funding and getting dozens of President Donald Trump’s picks for positions confirmed, reports The Hill.
The Senate’s executive calendar has 145 pending nominations, and many are being blocked by Democrats.
“We all agree that we’ve got to break the logjam that [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer] has created by him filibustering every single nominee except [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., recently said.
“He went nuclear, and it’s forced us to have to make a rule change. It shouldn’t have to be this way, but he chose to do it this way. [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune said at the beginning of this Congress that we can do it the hard way or do it the easy way, and Schumer has decided to do it the hard way.”
Republicans are considering a “nuclear option,” which would let them make changes to the confirmation process without help from Democrats.
They also must deal with the deadline to fund the government by Sept. 30.
The House and Senate are behind in putting together their 12 annual government funding bills, and Democrats have vowed to mount a stronger fight against Trump without major concessions from the president.
“There is a sense of no surrender,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told CNN, describing the position among many congressional Democrats. “I think people saw how badly it went when there was a capitulation. … We heard the anger of the base.”
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