Listeners:
Top listeners:
play_arrow

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – Senate Republicans on Thursday confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump’s executive branch nominees in a single vote, advancing his agenda to fill key government positions after invoking a new rules change last week.
The 51-47 vote clears more than a quarter of the 173 pending nominees who had already advanced out of committee but were held up by Democratic opposition. Under the revised Senate procedures, Republicans can now group sub-Cabinet executive nominees into batches for confirmation, bypassing the need for time-consuming individual votes that Democrats had been demanding.
Among those confirmed were former Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) as Energy undersecretary for nuclear security, and eight nominees to ambassadorial posts. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former television host and ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., was approved as U.S. ambassador to Greece, while Callista Gingrich, wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, will serve as ambassador to Switzerland after previously holding the post at the Vatican.
Other key confirmations include Theodore J. Garrish as assistant secretary of Energy, Jessica Kramer as assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Sean McMaster as administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, Justin Overbaugh as deputy under secretary of Defense, Scott Pappano as principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, Peter Thomson as inspector general of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Andrea Travnicek as assistant secretary of the Interior.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) defended the new approach, saying Democrats had “fully broken the confirmation process” by filibustering all civilian nominees except Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Republicans have fixed a broken process and restored the Senate precedent that applied to previous presidents,” Thune said, stressing that most of the nominees had bipartisan support in committee and would traditionally have been approved by unanimous consent or voice vote.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blasted the move as a dangerous precedent. “What Republicans have done is chip away at the Senate even more to give Donald Trump more power and to rubber-stamp whomever he wants, whenever he wants them, no questions asked,” Schumer warned.
The so-called “nuclear option” does not apply to Cabinet-level, Supreme Court, or other high-ranking judicial nominees, but Republicans say they plan to use it again in coming weeks to reduce the backlog further, aiming to clear all pending names by mid-October.
Two Republicans, Sens. Jim Banks (IN) and Mike Lee (UT), missed Thursday’s vote.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
President Donald Trump led tributes Tuesday to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham at Washington National Cathedral, remembering his longtime political ally as a towering figure in the Senate and a “true American original.”
The Senate confirmed Jay Clayton on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, placing a permanent leader over the nation’s intelligence community after weeks of uncertainty surrounding the post.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched multiple ballistic missiles at American forces stationed in Jordan early Wednesday, prompting the United States and Saudi Arabia to carry out joint airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias operating inside Iraq.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described his latest White House meeting with President Donald Trump as “one of the best” the two leaders have ever held, saying the discussions demonstrated close cooperation and a shared determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
A municipal beach worker searching Israel’s Mediterranean coastline for items lost by swimmers discovered something far older than expected: an exceptionally rare 2,500-year-old coin minted in ancient Cyprus.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said federal investigators spent approximately eight months locating Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private journals, which Kennedy claimed had been scattered across 11 separate government servers.
Skywatchers are preparing for one of the most remarkable astronomical nights of the decade as a total solar eclipse, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower and a broad gathering of six planets converge around August 12.
The Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs encapsulate the beauty, wisdom, and eternal truths found in the Bible, creating an immersive experience that resonates with believers and seekers alike.
Copyright The New Jerusalem Media.