Senate confirms dozens of Trump nominees on final day of 115th Congress

The Senate signed off on dozens of President Trump’s nominees hours before the deadline to either approve them or force the administration to re-nominate them.

The Senate confirmed more than 60 nominations by voice vote on Wednesday night, the final day of the 115th Congress.

{mosads}Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that he and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had reached a deal on executive-branch nominations.

“I’m glad the president will have more of his rightful team in place, and I’m glad that this group of newly confirmed nominees will be able to get to work on important business for the American people,” McConnell said shortly before the slate of nominees was confirmed.

Trump has lamented the pace of confirmation votes for his picks, including blaming Schumer in a pair of tweets on Monday. 

….Senator Schumer, more than a year longer than any other Administration in history. These are people who have been approved by committees and all others, yet Schumer continues to hold them back from serving their Country! Very Unfair!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2018

Scheduling a floor vote is up to McConnell, but any one senator can force him to eat up days of time before a final vote on a nomination.

Included in the package that cleared the Senate on Wednesday night were ambassador nominations for nearly two dozen countries, including Arthur Culvahouse Jr. to be ambassador to Australia. The post has been empty since 2016. Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), both of whom are retiring, were floated for the job but said they weren’t interested.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the outgoing Senate majority whip, noted the ambassador confirmations adding, “About time.”

In addition to ambassador picks, the Senate’s final nominations package of the 115th Congress included Steve Dillingham’s nomination to be director of the Census Bureau, eight U.S. attorney nominations and members of the Federal Communications Commission and Election Assistance Commission.

The package did not include any federal lifetime judicial nominees, which have emerged as a key priority for McConnell and the Senate Republican Conference. Democrats vowed late last month that they would not sign off on including them after similar packages in 2018 earned harsh blowback from the party’s progressive base.

Carmen Guerricagoitia McLean’s nomination to be an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District Columbia was included in the final package.