Senate approves 77 Trump nominations in end-of-Congress deal

The Senate approved 77 Trump nominations in an end-of-Congress deal Wednesday night, filling out the ranks of federal prosecutors, ambassadors, the White House science adviser and the post of anti-drug czar — but no new judges. The deal came on the final day of the 115th Congress, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, standing alone on the chamber floor, reading out the nomination numbers then confirming them by voice vote. The move caps what’s been an extraordinary two years of both unprecedented action and obstruction, and presages battles still to come over the next two years. First up will be a decision for Mr. Trump on some 300 or so nominations that still languish, including more than 85 judicial picks that never saw final action. Under normal rules, all of those will expire at the end of the old Congress, marking a victory for liberal activists who’d warned Democratic leaders against any en masse approvals...MORE