The Senate Confirmation Process

A nomination begins long before it reaches the Senate. The White House vets candidates, the FBI conducts a background investigation, and the Office of Government Ethics reviews financial disclosures and negotiates an ethics agreement under which the nominee divests conflicting holdings. The President then transmits the nomination, which the Senate refers to the committee with jurisdiction. The committee sends its own questionnaire, the nominee meets privately with senators, and for most senior positions the committee holds a public hearing, followed by a vote to report the nomination to the floor.

On the floor, nominations are placed on the Executive Calendar. Many routine ones, such as military promotions, are confirmed in large batches by unanimous consent. Contested ones require a cloture vote, which since 2013 and 2017 needs only a simple majority for all nominations, and since 2019 most sub-cabinet nominees face only two hours of debate after cloture. Any senator can place a hold, signaling objection to unanimous consent, which forces the majority leader to spend floor time on cloture. In September 2025 the Senate set a new precedent allowing groups of sub-cabinet nominees to be confirmed together in a single vote.

The process has slowed markedly over decades. The average time from nomination to confirmation for senior executive posts has grown from a few weeks in the 1980s to several months, leaving many positions vacant or held by acting officials. Nominations not confirmed by the end of a session are returned to the President under Senate rules unless the Senate agrees otherwise. Blue slips, the tradition of letting home-state senators approve district judge and U.S. attorney nominees, give individual senators added leverage.