Senate Votes to Streamline the Confirmation Process

The Senate took the rare step of relinquishing power, easily passing a measure that would exempt about 170 executive branch appointees from confirmation in an effort to streamline a process that has increasingly tied up the Senate and become punishing for those tapped for administration jobs.

By a vote of 79 to 20, senators approved the bipartisan bill that would allow presidents to fill cabinet agency public affairs jobs and other positions that do not involve policy making without putting appointees through what even senators acknowledge has become a cumbersome and partisan ordeal. At the same time, the Senate approved, 89 to 8, a second proposal that would expedite consideration of appointees to about 250 positions on part-time boards and commissions, slicing the number of confirmable posts to 1,000 from about 1,400.