The Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday afternoon on a procedural resolution that would clear the way for President Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Cyprus to be considered alongside dozens of other administration nominees in a single package.
John Breslow, an Arizona businessman and former Nebraska state auditor, is among 74 nominees included in the resolution, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota submitted last week as Republicans seek to move another group of presidential appointments through the chamber before its scheduled August recess.
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 29, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Under an agreement reached Wednesday, the Senate will resume consideration of the resolution, S. Res. 817, on Thursday and vote on its adoption at 1:45 p.m. No amendments or other motions related to the resolution will be permitted.
The vote will not determine whether Mr. Breslow is confirmed. Instead, approval of the resolution would authorize the Senate to take up the 74 nominations together under a procedure Republicans established last year to accelerate consideration of executive branch appointments.
The nominations would still have to be formally brought before the chamber and confirmed. Under Senate procedure, that second stage can itself require a separate cloture process before a final confirmation vote.
Mr. Breslow’s nomination carries particular significance for Cyprus.
At his confirmation hearing on April 16, Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that if confirmed, Mr. Breslow would be the first political appointee, rather than a career diplomat, to serve as U.S. ambassador to Cyprus. Mr. Risch said the choice demonstrated what he described as a “historic advancement” in relations between Washington and Nicosia.
The Foreign Relations Committee voted on April 30 to recommend Mr. Breslow’s confirmation, sending the nomination to the full Senate. It has since remained on the Executive Calendar as Calendar No. 729.
S. Res. 817 would allow the Senate to consider Mr. Breslow and 73 other nominees en bloc, rather than moving through the full floor process separately for each appointment. The group includes nominees for ambassadorial and senior State Department posts, federal prosecutors and marshals, regulatory bodies and other positions across the government.
A U.S. flag flies at half-staff atop the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 12, 2026. Senator Lindsey Graham, who represented South Carolina for more than two decades, died early this morning at 71. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz
Mr. Thune filed cloture on the resolution on Monday. Two days later, senators reached an agreement setting Thursday’s vote on the resolution itself, bringing the package another step closer to consideration.
Even if the resolution is approved Thursday, however, Mr. Breslow will remain a nominee. The Senate must subsequently take up the 74 nominations themselves and vote to confirm them before he can assume the post in Nicosia.
Mr. Breslow spent most of his professional career in the private sector, serving as owner and chairman of Linweld, an industrial gas and welding supply company. He also served two terms as Nebraska state auditor after being elected in 1990 and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1998.
During his April hearing, Mr. Breslow thanked Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their trust and confidence in him and pledged, if confirmed, to deepen cooperation between Washington and Nicosia.
His nomination comes after several years of rapidly expanding ties between the United States and the Republic of Cyprus. The two countries launched their first Strategic Dialogue in 2024, signed a five-year roadmap for bilateral defense cooperation and expanded security ties as Cyprus has taken on a larger role in regional crisis management and American policy in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The movement on Mr. Breslow’s nomination also coincides with renewed international diplomacy over Cyprus. António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, concluded his first official visit to the island in that role this week, meeting President Nikos Christodoulides and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhürman, as part of an effort to revive peace negotiations that have been stalled since 2017. Mr. Guterres said he planned to convene a new five plus one meeting involving the two Cypriot sides and the three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and Britain, once sufficient preparations had been made.
The Senate’s scheduled state work period begins Aug. 10, leaving leaders a narrowing window to complete the additional procedural steps required for Mr. Breslow and the other nominees to receive confirmation before senators leave Washington.
