Floor Statements

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Nesvik nomination.

Mr. President, I rise today to shine a spotlight on what the Democrats are doing in terms of unprecedented obstruction-- obstruction to the Senate nominating process.

The nomination process has been ground to a halt as a result of the Democrats. Today, like every other day this Congress, Senate Republicans will burn hours of floor time on votes that for every other President of the United States would have taken only seconds until now.

President Trump is the only President in modern history not to have a single nominee confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent--not a single one. Even the most routine nominations are being filibustered. Positions that usually just fly through the Senate by voice vote or unanimous consent are now being treated and taken as political hostages.

This isn't normal. This is petty partisan politics at its worst. And it is petty.

Let me tell you the facts that the Senate Democrats don't want the American people to hear. George Herbert Walker Bush, President of the United States, 98 percent of his nominees were confirmed by a voice vote or unanimous consent. Bill Clinton, President of the United States, 98 percent of his nominees were confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent. George W. Bush, President of the United States, 90 percent of his nominations were confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent. President Barack Obama, 90 percent of his nominees were confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent. Then President Trump took office in his first term and Democrats' obstruction began. The numbers dropped from 90 percent under President Obama to 65 percent under President Trump in that first term. Remember, today it is zero. It was 65 percent in his first term. Even Joe Biden, a President the Republicans strongly opposed, had 57 percent of his nominations confirmed by voice vote or unanimous consent.

Republicans did not sabotage each and every Biden Ambassador and every Biden Under Secretary simply out of spite. No. Over half were confirmed by unanimous consent. Today, Democrats are obstructing simply for the sake of obstruction. Senate Democrats continue to stonewall the Senate nomination process and to slow-walk every single one of President Trump's nominees.

So I have a copy of today's list. Here we are. I have the Executive Calendar for Friday, August 1, 2025, with totally routine nominees for positions who sailed through the Senate for every other President. Yet Senate Democrats have demanded cloture votes for every single one.

I would ask a single Democrat in this Chamber, without mentioning President Trump's name, tell me why, on the schedule today, the legal advisor for Advocacy for the Small Business Administration is somehow controversial.

Last night, right here, when we were doing cloture votes, a Democrat came in. One of the Republican Senators, after that Democrat voted no, said: Who did we vote on?

The Democrat Senator said: I don't know.

Well, what is wrong with him?

I don't know.

What is the position?

I don't know.

Well, you just voted no on him. Why was that?

Oh.

He was nominated by President Trump. That was the only reason that that nominee got a negative vote from the Democrat.

That is what is happening. That is what we are seeing here, and that is what the Democrats continue to do. Why should this nominee be held up in filibuster? The Democrats can't tell you why. They have no idea why, other than that the nomination was made by President Trump. This isn't about the qualifications of the nominees. This isn't about questioning their resumes or their past histories. This is just resisting President Trump.

Automatic Democrat obstruction doesn't make our communities safer. It doesn't make our country stronger. It doesn't make families and small businesses more prosperous. It just wastes time and weakens America.

Well, despite the Democrats' wall of obstruction, Senate Republicans are continuing to press forward. We have, so far, confirmed 120 nominees since President Trump's second term began. We are doing it one at a time, 1 day at a time, 1 vote at a time, 1 nominee at a time. The good news is we have confirmed twice as many positions and nominees in President Trump's second term compared to his first term.

Let's be clear: Republicans are not backing down. We are going to continue to confirm President Trump's nominees the easy way if we can, the hard way if we must. The American people elected President Trump and the Senate Republicans to get America back on track. After 4 years of high prices and open borders under the Democrats, they expect this President to have his team in place, and that is what the Senate Republicans will continue to do.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).

The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

I ask for the yeas and nays.

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and

the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy) and the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, let me bring up what I heard the minority leader say yesterday. Yesterday, he came to this floor, and when he left the floor, he went out to hold a press conference. At that point, the minority leader bragged--bragged--that the Democrats were introducing a bill to repeal the entire healthcare section of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Here is what the minority leader won't tell you: The Democrats' plan would eliminate--completely eliminate--the $50 billion designated for rural hospitals all across our country. The minority leader will not tell you that or anything about it because he prefers to focus on fear rather than the facts.

Republicans created this rural hospital fund because rural hospitals are in trouble.

In the last decade since ObamaCare became law, over 100 rural hospitals across the country have closed. Only 10 new ones have opened. Hundreds more are now at risk of closing due to the financial strain. The $50 billion rural hospital fund was created to address just this crisis. Every single Democrat voted against helping rural hospitals. Now they want to eliminate the fund designed to help our rural hospitals regardless of the damage that it will do to healthcare all across America. With their actions yesterday here in the U.S. Senate, Democrats would make our healthcare system weaker--weaker--for those who need it the most.

Now, Mr. President, I would like to turn to the issue of nominations.

Yesterday, Leader Thune filed cloture on a number of nominations, one of whose is Brian Nesvik. Brian is the nominee to be the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

The people of Wyoming know Brian very well, and they know him as a fierce advocate for Wyoming. He is the definition of qualified, and he is one of the very best of Wyoming. He has been the director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department since 2019. He has served in the Wyoming Army National Guard since 1986--a brigadier general and a Bronze Star recipient.

As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director, Brian is going to play a critical role in conserving our natural resources. He is going to take the reins at a time when politics, not science, has too often driven decisions by the Agency. I look forward to working with Brian to restore science to conservation policy.

Brian isn't just the man for the job. I will tell you that I really like and admire him. I met him overseas when he was commanding our troops. I think it was in Kuwait in 2013. He was respected by the troops and then was respected as Wyoming's Game and Fish director. So I look forward to his confirmation.

Congratulations, Brian.

You know, I had the honor of introducing him at his confirmation hearing in March. The committee approved his nomination. And that was 112 days ago, which is the issue of nominations in general.

The people of Wyoming ask me on weekends: Why hasn't Brian been confirmed yet? He had his hearing. We saw it on television. It was passed by the committee. That was almost 4 months ago. Why isn't he on the job today?

Let me tell you why. It is because of really unprecedented Democrat obstruction.

For 7 months, Senator Schumer and his band of Democrat obstructionists have thrown the kitchen sink at President Trump's nominees. That is why, right at this moment, 161 highly qualified nominees like Brian have not yet come to the Senate floor for a vote. I am talking about nominees who have had hearings, have had their paperwork done, have had FBI background checks, and have been approved by a positive vote of a committee of the U.S. Senate. Many of these received Democrat support in the committees. Each and every one of them is now stuck in what I consider to be Senate procedural purgatory. They have been stalled. They have been stonewalled and systematically delayed by Senate Democrats.

This isn't advice and consent. No. This is obstruct and delay. If President Trump nominates you, they are against you. That is the new litmus test: Nominated by Trump? Not good enough for the Democrats. Some people call it Trump derangement syndrome.

It has consumed the Senate Democrat caucus.

Historically, the Senate has found ways to work together to fill important positions in our government and do it in a timely manner. During President Trump's first term, by the time Congress recessed for the August break, the Senate had confirmed 133 nominees, and 79 of them were confirmed by voice vote. During President Biden's term, 150 nominees were confirmed by the time the Senate departed for the August recess, and 76 of them were confirmed by voice vote. Here we are in President Trump's second term, and zero--absolutely zero--nominees have been confirmed by voice vote. That is totally unprecedented. President Trump is the only President in modern history to not have a single nominee confirmed by voice vote.

Obstructionist Democrats are turning the Senate into the world's slowest human resources department. It is by design. They have filibustered every single Trump nominee following the confirmation of Marco Rubio to be Secretary of State on day one of the administration. Democrats are doing this regardless of the qualifications of these highly qualified individuals. They do it regardless of bipartisan support in the committees. They do it regardless of precedent and regardless of urgency.

Democrats filibustered the Chief of Protocol at the State Department. They filibustered the Assistant Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency. They filibustered the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the Department of Commerce. They filibustered the Under Secretary--not the Secretary but the Under Secretary--for Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce. They filibustered the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense. They filibustered the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. They even filibustered the General Counsel for the Department of Agriculture--all qualified, all delayed--simply because President Trump nominated them.

Even positions that have never been subject to a rollcall vote in the U.S. Senate have not been spared. When nominees finally get a vote on the Senate floor, many have been confirmed with bipartisan support.

A President deserves to have his team in place. President Trump deserves to have his team in place, and America deserves to have leaders on the job. Democrats have set a sad, new standard for obstructing confirmations. Republicans will not stand back while Democrats weaponize the Senate rules, sabotage the process, and paralyze the executive branch. Republicans will do what needs to be done to get President Trump's team in place.