Senate GOP moves 97 Trump nominees closer to historic milestone

By Fox News · Fox News

Senate Republicans inched closer to history on Wednesday after blowing past yet another procedural obstacle on their way to confirming nearly 100 of President Donald Trump’s nominees. As part of their mad dash from Washington ahead of the upcoming holiday recess, Senate Republicans advanced a tranche of 97 of Trump’s picks. The successful party-line vote puts the GOP one step away from confirming the batch of nominees. The final confirmation vote is expected on Thursday, barring an agreement with Senate Democrats to speed up the process. SENATE GOP BARRELS PAST BLOCKADE TO ADVANCE NEARLY 100 TRUMP NOMINEES And if that vote is successful, which it is expected to be, Senate Republicans will have confirmed more of Trump’s picks than any other president in one year. The current nominees package would place Trump at 415 total confirmed during the first year of his second term, which leapfrogs his total of 323 during his first term. It also blows past former President Joe Biden , who, at the same period at the end of his first year in office, had 365. Senate Republicans have rapidly confirmed hundreds of Trump’s picks since changing the Senate’s rules surrounding the confirmation process in September in a bid to smash through Senate Democrats’ blockade against advancing even the most low-level positions throughout the Trump administration. SENATE REPUBLICANS PUSH MAJOR RULE CHANGE TO FAST-TRACK TRUMP NOMINEES IN BATCHES THIS WEEK The GOP went nuclear — the fourth time in the Senate's history — to lower the threshold for certain picks to just a simple majority, rather than the typical, 60-vote filibuster. That change has allowed Republicans to quickly move through sub-cabinet level positions at a brisk pace and to tee up Trump’s expected historic moment. Among the list of nominees are former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor and two picks for the National Labor Relations Board, James Murphy and Scott Mayer, along wit…