Today is Feb. 3, 2025, and the Senate has confirmed eight of President Donald Trump’s nominees. That means he’s running ahead of Joe Biden, who by the end of Feb. 3, 2021, still only had seven Cabinet members confirmed.
But one key difference is the level of Democrat resistance. Republicans may often be painted with the “obstructionist brush,” but of Biden’s seven confirmations through Feb. 3, only two Republicans voted against them all. When you compare that with Trump’s, excepting former Sen. Marco Rubio, 12 Democrats have voted no (or skipped) every single nominee. By contrast, the only two Republicans who voted against all seven of Biden’s nominees through Feb. 3 were Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri.
This new level of obstruction puts Trump nominees Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at particular risk and empowers Republican Senate opposition to the president.
Twelve isn’t a small number in the U.S. Senate. Just three Republicans — Cruz, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Mike Lee of Utah — earned the nickname “wacko birds” for holding up President Barack Obama’s second-term Senate agenda. Before them, senators such as Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), and Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) earned reputations for jamming up the Senate, though the ability of small groups of senators to hold up major nominations lessened after then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) abolished the filibuster for most nominations in November 2013.
While remaining Senate decorum meant they confirmed their own colleague, Rubio, these 12 voted against (or skipped the votes for) Scott Bessent for the Department of the Treasury, Pete Hegseth for the Department of Defense, former Gov. Doug Burgum for the Department of the Interior, former Rep. Sean Duffy for the Department of Transportation, former Gov. Kristi Noem for the Department of Homeland Security, former Rep. Lee Zeldin for the Environmental Protection Agency, and John Ratcliffe for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Those 12 Democrats are Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), and “independent” (except when running for president) Bernie Sanders (Vt.).
That’s no group of backbenchers or rabble-rousers. When Cruz and Hawley were pelting Biden’s nominees, neither had yet held a chairmanship or ranking-member position. By contrast, Markey is the top Democrat on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, Merkley for Budget, Murray for Appropriations, Reed for Armed Services, Warren for Banking, Wyden for Finance, and Sanders for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The obstructionists hold key posts and are trusted by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.). Thus far, it hasn’t stopped any nominee, though last week, the Democrats’ obstruction forced the vice president to break a tie on a confirmation for only the second time in history.
This new level of obstruction puts Trump nominees Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at particular risk and empowers Republican Senate opposition to the president. It virtually guarantees whisper campaigns and parlor games, as the White House and its allies try to determine which Republicans they can count on and which will join Democrats in holding up the president’s agenda.
Partisan blocks have grown worse in recent years in general, but these Democrats have taken it to a new level. By Feb. 3, 2009, Barack Obama had seen 13 votes through and had 14 Senate-confirmed Cabinet-level positions filled (when you include Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a holdover from President George W. Bush’s presidency). Of those 14, only two garnered noteworthy resistance in the Senate: Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner (34 nays) and Attorney General Eric Holder (21 nays).
Far from noteworthy resistance, three of Obama’s nominees were confirmed by unanimous consent (a quick procedure that can be derailed by a single objection), and four were confirmed by a voice vote (meaning they didn’t even bother to write it down), including U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. In keeping with Senate niceties, former Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) was confirmed 94-2, with only Sens. Jim DeMint and David Vitter (R-La.) opposing.
It’s a new era of obstruction by Democrats and members of the president’s own party. It’s not easy to shake things up in Washington. But it does paint a clearer picture of what the White House is up against in the upper legislative chamber. Next time you see Sanders yelling about onesies, hear Warren banging the war drum, or are subjected to Wyden’s lispy interrogation, remember: This guy’s a no vote no matter what the answer is. It might put a few things in perspective.
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Opinion & analysis, Politics