Senate Republicans are mulling using the "nuclear option" to change rules in an effort to speed up consideration of President Trump
Donald TrumpSacha Baron Cohen calls out 'danger of lies, hate and conspiracies' in Golden Globes speech Sorkin uses Abbie Hoffman quote to condemn Capitol violence: Democracy is 'something you do' Ex-Trump aide Pierson planning run for Congress MORE's nominees as soon as next week.

Sen. Todd Young
Todd Christopher YoungSenate mulls changes to .9 trillion coronavirus bill Graham: Trump will 'be helpful' to all Senate GOP incumbents Biden signs supply chain order after 'positive' meeting with lawmakers MORE (R-Ind.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday that the Senate could turn to the proposed rules change after they try to take up Trump's proposal to reopen the federal government, which is likely to be blocked by Democrats.

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Asked about when the rules change proposal would be brought to the Senate floor, a spokesman for McConnell said that members "are discussing, but no announcements have been made."
Republicans have floated cutting down on the amount of time it takes to clear a nominee for years but faced pushback from Democrats and even some members of their own party.
But the GOP's expanded 53-seat majority in the Senate gives them more leeway to muscle through their proposal.
Using the "nuclear option" would allow Republicans to change the rules with only a simple majority. Democrats previously used the tactic to nix the 60-vote threshold for most nominations, while Republicans followed suit and got rid of the same hurdle for Supreme Court picks in 2017.

Republicans and the president have fumed for months over the pace of confirmation votes in the Senate, accusing Democrats of using the chamber's rulebook to drag out any nomination even if it's not controversial.
Sen. Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio RubioCPAC, all-in for Trump, is not what it used to be Watch live: Day 2 at CPAC DeSantis derides 'failed Republican establishment' at CPAC MORE (R-Fla.) said after the GOP retreat last week that “there are a lot of members that would like to see the debate time, post-cloture, lowered from 30 hours.”

“It was discussed at the retreat and many times before and every month that goes by with this sort of blockade increases the number of people that are open to that,” Rubio said.
But Democrats have publicly pushed back against efforts by Republicans to change the rules during the Trump administration, arguing it would only add to the increasingly partisan fight over nominations.
No Democrats supported the measure when it came up for a vote in the Rules Committee last year.
—Alexander Bolton contributed.