Sen. Thune proposes waiting until the weekend to confirm Trump's picks after Dems postpone votes: "Easy enough"

John Thune, R-S.D., expressed frustration with Democrats on Tuesday after they blocked the confirmation of John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick for CIA director, despite bipartisan support.

If progress continues to be delayed, the Senate can remain in session all weekend to confirm Trump's picks, as stated by Sen. John Thune, R-SD, after his vote was blocked by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

"Do we want to vote on these individuals on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday? Because that's what we're going to do. This can be easy or hard," Thune said. "This is about America's national security interests, and we're stalling, so that's not going to happen."

The Senate Intelligence Committee approved Ratcliffe by a bipartisan vote of 14 to 3, making Thune confident that the confirmation vote would be easy.

Thune stated that both Democrats and Republicans agree that he is highly qualified for the job, and he is unsure what the purpose of stalling is.

On Tuesday, Senator Murphy stated that it wasn't too much to request a two-day, authentic debate on the Senate floor.

The delay in the confirmation of Sen. Tom Cotton's nomination for a leadership position is "for no good reason" and is merely an attempt to "drag out all of these nominations to play procedural games."

During confirmation votes prior to the past two elections, the Democrats and Republicans did not act in a similar manner as they did in 2017 with Trump's first administration and 2021 with Biden's picks.

"We should prioritize returning to that practice when the nominee is highly accomplished, well-qualified, and of integrity, like John Ratcliffe," Cotton said. "Now we'll have to spend two days spinning our wheels. However, as I mentioned earlier, don't make any plans for the weekend. Avoid scheduling any dinner dates starting on Thursday night because we'll be working on the nominees in a collaborative and easy manner. Or perhaps the challenging way."

As of now, only one of Trump's Cabinet nominees has been confirmed, which is former Florida senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. This confirmation occurred on Monday with a unanimous vote.

While some nominees have progressed through committee votes, others are yet to undergo confirmation hearings.