Senate Plans Single Vote to Confirm 97 Key Federal Officials, Speeding Up Government Staffing

This executive resolution is pure procedural muscle. It allows the Senate to take 97 presidential nominations—everything from Assistant Secretaries and Ambassadors to U.S. Attorneys and federal board members—and vote on them all at once, as a single package. Instead of 97 separate votes, they’ll do one big ‘en bloc’ vote in Executive Session.

The Fast Lane for Federal Jobs

Think of this as the government hitting the express lane at the grocery store when they have a massive cart full of groceries. The nominations covered are high-stakes roles across pretty much every critical federal department: Labor, Homeland Security, Treasury, State, and even the folks who run the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). For the average person, this means the government can staff up critical offices—like the U.S. Attorneys who prosecute federal crimes, or the regulators who oversee your bank—much faster than usual. When key positions sit empty, policy decisions and enforcement actions slow down; this resolution is designed to clear that logjam quickly.

The Trade-Off: Efficiency vs. Scrutiny

While speed is good for getting government running at full capacity, this process comes with a trade-off. When you bundle 97 diverse nominations—some for judges, some for diplomats, some for finance regulators—into one vote, it drastically reduces the opportunity for individual scrutiny. Every single one of these nominees is going into a job that has a real impact on your life, whether it’s setting labor rules or negotiating trade deals. By using the ‘en bloc’ method, the Senate is prioritizing efficiency, but they are also effectively limiting the debate and detailed review for any single nominee. It’s a necessary tool for clearing backlogs, but it does mean that if there’s a problematic nominee hidden among the 97, they might slip through with less public discussion than they would otherwise receive. It’s a procedural move that speeds up governance, but it also reduces the spotlight on the individuals taking these powerful jobs.