First posted on Instagram
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is pressing Senate Republicans to confirm all of President Donald Trump’s pending appointments immediately, cancel their remaining breaks and clear the nomination backlog before Democrats take control of the Senate in January, saying there is no other choice with only weeks left in the Republican majority.
Lee and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida have urged their colleagues to scrap the holiday breaks and stay in Washington working until January. “The most important thing for the Senate to do is to stay in session EVERY DAY until the Democrats take over. Every judge and nominee confirmed, every priority done,” Scott wrote on X on November 7. Lee has argued Republicans have only about eight weeks left in the majority and should use them to finish the work rather than rush into leadership elections.
Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio went further, saying: “If we lose the House and the Senate, we should be here from Nov. 9 until Dec. 31 with no break at all.”
Lee himself wrote on X on November 9 that the Senate should confirm Lee Rudofsky to the Eighth Circuit “along with the rest of President Trump’s pending judicial nominees,” warning that “if the Senate doesn’t do this now, it’s unlikely President Trump will be able to fill these positions in the next Congress.”
Lee’s demand echoes a warning he first made in July 2025, when he wrote that at the current pace it would be April 2026 before the Senate confirmed the 135 Trump nominees then pending — and that the queue was still growing, with another 124 nominees waiting in committee. The backlog is now larger, at about 178 nominees, according to an analysis published November 6.
The push comes after Democrats won control of both chambers in the November 3 midterms. Republicans fear that once Democrats take over in January, they will stall or alter Trump’s agenda, so senators want to use the lame-duck session to push through budget reforms, tighten election laws, streamline permitting and confirm as many of Trump’s picks — judges, ambassadors and senior administration officials — as possible.
The Senate’s Republican leadership elections are set for Tuesday, November 10. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is collecting signatures to delay the vote, arguing the conference should first hold a full discussion of the midterm defeat — a push Lee has signed on to.