Senate Republicans have confirmed over 100 of President Donald Trump’s nominees, clearing the backlog of pending appointments in a single move.
The confirmations came after the Senate GOP changed its rules last month to allow most executive branch nominees to be approved en masse rather than individually. The change does not apply to Cabinet secretaries or judicial nominees.
The move represents the largest block of confirmations since the rule change took effect. Among those approved were former Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who will serve as ambassador to the Bahamas, and Sergio Gor, former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who will serve as ambassador to India.
Republicans invoked the so-called “nuclear option” — a party-line rules change — to speed up the confirmation process after months of Democratic opposition had slowed it to a crawl.
