Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said on Saturday he is drafting a resolution to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominees as the confirmation process has stalled during the August recess.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) poked fun at the president for refusing to let the White House release funding in exchange for continuing the confirmation of Trump’s nominees, saying Trump’s refusal is “the art of the deal.”
As the pause on the confirmation process continues, Lee said on X that he and Senate Republicans are “ready, willing and able” to confirm Trump’s picks. Lee also said he drafted an alternate means to continue this work if Senate Democrats continue to stall.
“I’ve drafted an adjournment resolution, one that would allow President Trump to invoke his recess appointment powers. So if this is the way the Democrats want to play, they might not like the result,” Lee said in a video posted to X on Saturday.
“Either way, we’re good. We just want to get President Trump’s nominees in place, and we intend to do it. We’re going to win,” Lee said.
Lee also appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, saying the Senate will be busy during most of September, focusing on funding the government, and creating a “backlog” of nominees. He said people should contact their senators, “especially if they’re Republicans,” and tell them to address Trump’s nominees before they break for August.
Trump thanked Republican senators on Truth Social for working to confirm his nominees while claiming Democrats want the nation to fail “because they have failed.” On X, Lee said Republicans will either confirm Trump’s picks or “have them recess appointed.”
Lee celebrated confirming Jeanine Pirro as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, saying she has “her work cut out for her” in the nation’s capital. He also said the Senate shouldn’t take recess “with nearly 160 nominees on the confirmation backlog.”