US Senate loosens rule to speed confirmation of some Trump nominees

By Richard Cowan and Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Thursday rammed a change in one of the chamber's long-standing rules that will allow faster and easier confirmations of President Donald Trump's executive-branch nominees.

Following months of complaining that Democrats were slowing the installment of Trump's picks to many high-level positions at executive branch agencies, Republicans voted 53-45 to loosen a rule, thus giving the minority party less ability to slow down hundreds of such nominations.

"Do you guys like the fact that we're a personnel department? We spend two-thirds of our time on nominees" because of procedural delays, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, addressing opposition Democrats.

Now, the majority party will be able to move large groups of nominees in one package for votes on confirmation, instead of the process allowing only one at a time.

"It means fewer checks and balances on an executive that is already running roughshod over the law, the Constitution," Democratic Senator Adam Schiff told Reuters. "This is the Republicans just giving more power to the president and giving up their institutional interests," he said.

Thursday's action will have no impact on the confirmations of federal judges and heads of presidential Cabinet agencies.

It marked the third time in the past 12 years that the Senate has diluted the power of the minority party, eroding its long-held boast that it was a "cooling" force on the more hot-headed House of Representatives.

The first such move came in 2013 at the hands of a Democratic majority leader, in what was called executing the "nuclear option." Four years later, a Republican leader also utilized the weapon that has led to a third action that is trending toward becoming a conventional option.

Republicans currently control the Senate by a 53-47 margin.

As soon as next week, the first tranche of Trump nominees could advance toward faster confirmations under the new rule.

Stephen Miran, Trump's nominee to fill a vacancy on the Federal Reserve Board, is set for a final confirmation vote early next week under the old rule.

With this Republican move, Trump has again gained greater powers following months of his party's acquiescence that has allowed him to withhold congressionally approved spending and impose sweeping tariffs on imported goods - two powers granted to Congress in the U.S. Constitution.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer condemned Thursday's action as constructing a "conveyor belt of unqualified nominees."

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Bo Erickson; Editing by Jamie Freed)