Oct 7, 2025 - Politics & Policy

Senate GOP beats Biden's confirmation numbers

Stef W. Kight

Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD) (C) speak alongside Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) (L) outside of the West Wing of the White House — Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) hyped the Senate's progress on confirming Trump nominees during a closed-door lunch on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Thanks to new rules through the "nuclear option," the Senate confirmed another big batch of nominees Tuesday evening — putting them ahead of tallies at the same point under the Biden and first Trump administrations.

By the numbers: Barrasso compared the nominee confirmation numbers of the past few administrations, in a presentation slide obtained by Axios.

The total number of Trump 2.0 confirmations is now at 298 after Tuesday's votes.
That's more than the 201 nominees confirmed at this point under former President Biden, and the 183 confirmations at this point in Trump's first term.
Barrasso's slide included images of Trump representing his administrations, and an image of an autopen signing Biden's name.

What to watch: The new bloc of confirmations leaves just 26 people waiting to be confirmed — 16 in the executive branch and 10 judicial branch nominees.

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Senate GOP beats Biden's confirmation numbers

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