Senate Confirms 74 Trump Nominees in Single En Bloc Vote Before Recess

The Senate on Friday confirmed 74 of President Donald Trump’s civilian nominees in a single party-line vote, advancing a large slate of ambassadors, agency leaders, and other officials on the final day of session before the August recess.

Senators approved the package 51-47 under an executive resolution that permitted the nominees to be considered together. All voting Republicans supported the measure while Democrats and independents who caucus with them opposed it. Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky did not vote.

The en bloc confirmation was the fifth such package processed under Senate Republican rules changes that allow simple-majority votes on groups of lower-level civilian nominations rather than requiring individual consideration or a 60-vote threshold. Senate Majority Leader John Thune had advanced the resolution, S.Res. 817, to facilitate the batch.

The confirmed nominees include 17 ambassadorial positions, among them envoys to Australia, Norway, and Brazil, along with other ambassador-rank posts. The list also covers four U.S. attorneys, four U.S. marshals, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget, multiple under secretaries and assistant secretaries—including key State Department regional roles for the Middle East, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere—and additional agency positions.

Notable among those confirmed were Cameron Hamilton as FEMA administrator, David Cummins as TSA administrator, and Brett Matsumoto as commissioner of labor statistics. The ambassadorial confirmations help fill vacancies that had persisted after the administration recalled a number of career diplomats appointed under the prior administration.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley highlighted the inclusion of law-enforcement related nominees, noting progress in confirming U.S. attorneys and marshals. Republican leaders have described the en bloc process as necessary to overcome what they call historic Democratic obstruction of the president’s nominees and to staff the government more efficiently.

With this package, the total number of civilian nominations confirmed through the en bloc mechanism since the rules reform reaches approximately 375, representing a substantial share of the second-term civilian confirmations. The action leaves the Senate having processed a significant portion of Trump’s nominees before members departed for the recess.The vote underscores the majority’s continued use of procedural tools to advance the administration’s personnel priorities across the executive branch and diplomatic posts. Further nomination packages are expected when the Senate returns.