GOP Threatens Weekend Work as Democrats Test Resolve on Nominees

The new Senate majority is using the weekends as a weapon in the war over President Donald Trump’s nominees.

Senate Republicans are frustrated with Democrats slow-walking Trump’s nominees on the floor, including picks who are seen as less controversial — a dynamic that’s quickly creating divisions in the chamber. The bipartisanship of fast-tracking nominees on the Senate floor lasted for one day, and now Republicans are threatening to work on Saturdays and Sundays to fulfill their pledge to get Trump his team as quickly as possible.

“They need to know that we’re going to get this cabinet in place, and we’re not going to tolerate this sort of activity,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said. “They think they’re going to go home for the weekend, they’re not.”

Democrats are debuting a full court press to raise objections about nominees they view as the most troubling, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Russ Vought for budget director, and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. But even for nominees that advance in committee with more bipartisan support, they are saying that they want the extra time for review.

“Our idea is to let the whole truth come out, if they try to rush them through, we don’t want that to happen,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday. Though it only takes a simple majority vote to confirm nominees, objectors can force a time-consuming debate.

Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) pledged when he took the job that they would stay later and longer this session, setting up 10 straight weeks in session. Now he’s using that to get the president’s picks into office, saying senators will have to give up their weekends if they won’t agree to expedite even the noncontroversial picks.

“This can be easy or this can be hard,” Thune said. “This is about America’s national security interests, and we’re stalling, so that’s not going to happen.”

Rubio First Confirmed as Senators Look to Speed Confirmations

It’s not unusual for Senate leaders to threaten weekend work to advance priorities, but this is a first test of Thune’s resolve as majority leader.

At the beginning of the week, Senate Republicans planned to quickly get John Ratcliffe to be confirmed as CIA director without having to deal with procedural hurdles. But when Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) objected to the nomination on the floor on Tuesday, Republicans weren’t able to get him approved until Thursday afternoon.

“These nominees sometimes get judged in comparison to other Trump nominees, next to Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe looks positive to the mainstream, but he politicized intelligence,” Murphy said. “We should not fast track their nominations so that the public and the Senate doesn’t have a chance to fully vet them.”

When Republicans stay largely united, Trump’s nominees are still expected to advance given the GOP margin, but Democrats can slow the pace. Even Hegseth, who has faced alcohol and misconduct allegations, advanced in a 51-49 procedural vote Thursday, with just two Republicans voting no. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he’s planning on “going to church down the street to stay close by.”

“It’s good to know now that I should just cancel everything and not plan on going home this weekend,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said. “As long as it’s going to play out this way, we might as well get as many of them done as we can.”

Thune filed cloture on a lengthy list of nominees that are waiting in the queue after Hegseth, including Kristi Noem for homeland security secretary, Scott Bessent for treasury secretary, and Sean Duffy for transportation secretary. Democrats — who say taking the extra time to vet the nominees is needed — are relying on old tradition that opposition to a nominee doesn’t mean a bad relationship if they get the job.

“We will work with them if they are confirmed,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. “The tradition is time honored that if there is opposition from senators, afterward they work with the executive branch officials they have opposed. That’s the way it goes.”