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Senate GOP Approve 'Nuclear Option' to Ram Through 'Worst and Smelliest Stinkers' Nominated by Trump
"Congress is supposed to be a check on the Executive Branch, not a rubber stamp," said Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat of California. "We won’t forget it."
Sep 12, 2025
In a move that allowed for confirmation of a bloc of 48 nominees to a variety of sub-cabinet positions across the executive branch that require Senate approval, Senate Majority Leader John Thune triggered what's been called the "nuclear option" on Thursday by lowering the threshold for passage and allowing group confirmations, an unprecedented change to chamber rules that will now hamper the minorities ability to slow or stop objectionable or unqualified candidates.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the group of nominees "historically bad," and was among those on the Democratic side to warn the move would forever change the nature of the Senate.
As NBC News explains:
The rule applies to executive branch nominees subject to two hours of Senate debate, including subcabinet picks and ambassadors. It will not affect judicial nominations. Republicans say they'll allow their own senators to object to individual nominees in any given block, but the rule will strip away the power of the minority party to do the same thing.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., initiated the process by bringing up a package of 48 Trump nominees, which under longstanding rules has been subject to the 60-vote threshold. The vote to advance them failed due to Democratic opposition. Then, Thune sought to reconsider and Republicans subsequently voted to overrule the chair, setting a precedent and establishing the new rule.
Thune had telegraphed the move for weeks, accusing Democrats of creating an "untenable situation" with historic obstruction of Trump's nominees. The vote was held up for hours Thursday as the two parties engaged in last-ditch negotiations to strike a deal to avoid a rules change.
In the end, those negotiations failed and Thune went ahead with the rule change, which passed along party lines in a 53-45 vote.
"You remember that 'nuclear option' that Republicans warned Democrats to never use because it attacked the fundamental structure of the Senate and put government at risk?" asked Democratic strategist and podcast host Max Burns. "Senate Republicans just used it."
Democratic senators denounced the move in the strongest terms, vowing to remember when political winds shift in the future.
"This 'nuclear' move," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), "allows Republicans to vote through Trump’s unqualified and unfit nominees in bunches—“en bloc”—so they can’t be held directly accountable for the worst and smelliest stinkers in the bunch."
"Republicans have permanently blown up the rules of the Senate to jam through Trump's unqualified nominees," said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). "Congress is supposed to be a check on the Executive Branch, not a rubber stamp. We won’t forget it."
The GOP effort, said Schumer in his remarks, "was not so much about ending obstruction, as they claim. Rather, it was another act of genuflection to the executive branch... to give Donald Trump more power and to rubber-stamp whomever he wants whenever he wants them, no questions asked."
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Schumer to Force Vote on Releasing Epstein Files
"Enough smoke and mirrors: The American people deserve clarity and the only way to get it is by releasing the files and stopping the government's stonewalling," said one advocate of the move.
Sep 10, 2025
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday moved to force a vote on releasing documents concerning Jeffrey Epstein amid efforts by President Donald Trump to quash public scrutiny of his longtime close friendship with the deceased sex offender.
The Hill reported that Schumer (D-N.Y.) "ambushed" Senate Republicans by filing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directing US Attorney General Pam Bondi to publicly release all non-classified materials in the so-called Epstein files.
"Just a few minutes ago, I filed an amendment that would require the attorney general to release all the Epstein files and Republicans are going to have to vote on it," Schumer said in a social media post. "We're going to keep fighting until these files are fully released."
BREAKING NEWS: I just filed an amendment on the Senate Floor to REQUIRE the Attorney General to release the Epstein files.Republicans will HAVE TO vote on it. We’re going to keep fighting until these files are released.
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— Chuck Schumer (@schumer.senate.gov) September 10, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Schumer's amendment mirrors legislation proposed in July by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who want the House of Representatives to compel the Department of Justice to release all the Epstein materials in its possession.
"We can't avoid justice just to avoid embarrassment for some very powerful men," Massie told ABC News' "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
Khanna told Stephanopoulos that "we have the 218 votes, 216 already support it. There are two vacancies that haven't been reported as much, but two Democrats are going to be joining and they are both committed to signing it. That's going to happen by the end of September."
Bondi said in February that a list of Epstein's clients was "sitting on my desk right now to review"—but she has since gone mum on the matter amid Trump's apparent consternation over the issue. She then attempted to walk back her claim.
Republicans have repeatedly stymied efforts to vote on releasing the Epstein files, even at the cost of enraging much of their base.
Trump's efforts to deflect and distract from the Epstein scandal have outraged even many of his hardcore supporters and resulted in calls for transparency from both sides of the political aisle. The president denies any wrongdoing related to Epstein, calling the controversy over the files a "hoax" while denouncing Republicans demanding transparency as "weaklings."
The president also sued The Wall Street Journal over reporting that he created a "bawdy" letter and drawing for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. The birthday message was published this week; Trump denies that the signature on the message—which appears to exactly match his own—is his.
Cavan Kharrazian, senior policy adviser at the pro-democracy group Demand Progress, welcomed Schumer's move in a statement noting that "a quarter million Americans have asked their members of Congress to release the Epstein files."
"Senators should heed that groundswell of support and immediately vote to release them," Kharrazian added. "Enough smoke and mirrors: The American people deserve clarity and the only way to get it is by releasing the files and stopping the government's stonewalling."
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Unlike Maine's Governor, Platner Does Not 'Appreciate Everything Susan Collins Has Been Doing'
The US Senate candidate's comments came after Maine's Democratic governor expressed appreciation for the Republican senator.
Sep 09, 2025
Democrat Graham Platner, an oyster farmer running to unseat Republican US Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, isn't pulling any punches when it comes to the incumbent's record—unlike the state's governor, Janet Mills, who may also enter the 2026 race.
Mills on Monday confirmed that she is still "seriously considering a run" for Senate, according to News Center Maine. She said, "Every day I pick up the newspaper and I read the headlines and I watch the news, and there are a lot of very disturbing things going on in Washington."
Asked whether Collins—who sometimes votes against her party, but falls in line when her vote actually matters—has done enough to push back against things like US President Donald Trump's tariffs, Mills said: "She's in a tough position. I appreciate everything she is doing."
Platner struck a much different tone. Responding to the reporting on social media Monday night, he said, "I do not appreciate everything Susan Collins has been doing."
Welcoming Platner's retort, Jonathan Dean, a lawyer and solar energy entrepreneur running in Illinois' crowded Democratic primary race for US Senate, said, "This is more like it."
On Tuesday, Semafor congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett asked Collins about Mills' comments. The Republican senator said she was "delighted" to hear Mills' remarks and that "the governor and I have always had a good relationship."
Platner weighed in again, saying, "Susan Collins and I have never had a good relationship."
His responses align with what the US military veteran said in the video launching his campaign last month: "I did four infantry tours in the Marine Corps and the Army. I'm not afraid to name an enemy, and the enemy is the oligarchy."
"It's the billionaires who pay for it, and the politicians who sell us out. And yeah, that means politicians like Susan Collins," he continued. "I'm not fooled by this fake charade of Collins' deliberations and moderation."
"The difference between Susan Collins and Ted Cruz," he added, referring to a Republican US senator from Texas, "is at least Ted Cruz is honest about selling us out and not giving a damn."
Platner has already secured support from a key progressive in the chamber: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The pair joined Troy Jackson, who is running to replace term-limited Mills as governor, for a rally in Portland, Maine on Labor Day as part of Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy Tour.
"We need senators in Washington who are prepared to take on the billionaire class and fight for working people," Sanders said in his endorsement of Platner. "He's a Mainer through and through, and he is building a movement strong enough to take on the oligarchy that is making Maine unaffordable for all except a privileged few. I look forward to Graham joining me in Washington."
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