Unable to work out a bipartisan deal to speed up Trump administration nominees, the Senate Republican majority changed the chamber's rules on Wednesday to shorten debate time over the objections of Democrats.

The move qualifies as a “nuclear option” maneuver by the GOP to override a Democratic filibuster, and it marks another step taken in recent years to diminish the power of the Senate minority.

Senate Republicans and Democrats have already moved to eliminate the 60-vote threshold needed to confirm Cabinet members and judges, including Supreme Court justices, in response to partisan obstruction tactics that have increased over the years.

Lawmakers in both parties warned the Senate should not go any further to strip the chamber’s traditional minority leverage with further changes to the rules, such as the elimination of the 60-vote threshold needed to pass legislation, which some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates said they support.

“The partisan temperament is destroying this place,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said. “It needs to come to an end.”

The latest change was invoked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said Democrats are needlessly dragging out debates, stalling Trump nominees, creating a large backlog, and preventing the president from assembling his administrative team.

McConnell made the move to shorten debate time after the Senate voted to proceed with the nomination of Jeffrey Kessler to serve as assistant secretary of commerce.

McConnell called the effort to confirm Kessler “a textbook case study of the shameful nature of the current process.”

Democrats delayed Kessler’s consideration in committee by seven months, then stalled a vote on his confirmation by another six months once his nomination reached the Senate floor.

After delaying his confirmation, nearly all Democrats voted with the GOP to advance Kessler's nomination 95-3.

“This systematic obstruction is unfair to our duly elected president and more importantly, it is disrespectful to the American people who deserve the government they elected,” McConnell said.

I fixed it though to say the change will slash debate time to 30 hours for sub-Cabinet level executive branch nominees. Later this afternoon, Senate Republicans plan to shorten debate time needed to confirm district court judges.

The change elicited strong opposition from Senate Democrats, even though it mirrored a bipartisan deal to temporarily shorten debate time that lawmakers struck under a Democratic majority in 2013.

But Democrats now believe the shortened debate time will hamper their ability to carefully consider Trump picks who, in their view, may not be qualified for the federal bench or administrative roles.

“We’ve seen nominees who have never been in a courtroom and are being nominated to lifetime judgeships,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a top lawmaker on the Judiciary Committee, said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the Trump administration is responsible for the opposition from Democrats because it has offered unqualified or politically extreme candidates.

“Pick better nominees, and you will have our support,” Wyden said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said Republicans were moving to destroy the rules of the Senate to speed along far-right judicial picks “to adopt a far right agenda Republicans know they cannot enact through the legislative process.”

Schumer, D-N.Y., said Trump has nominated unqualified people to the federal bench who were rejected only because the Senate had the time to delve into their backgrounds.

He cited as examples Thomas Farr and Ryan Bounds, who were defeated with the help of the GOP after background investigations found evidence each in the past had engaged in actions deemed hurtful toward minorities.

“Two hours for a lifetime appointment, with huge influence on peoples’ lives, is unacceptable,” Schumer said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s a mockery of how this institution works."

Republicans made the case that Democrats have imposed historic delays on White House nominees, even those they do not oppose, leaving picks for the federal bench and sub-Cabinet level officials waiting months (and in some cases, years) for confirmation.

They pointed to the many nominees Democrats delayed by requiring the clock to run out on all 30 hours of debate time, then voting in favor of confirmation.

The GOP over the past two years had sought a deal with Democrats to reinstitute the bipartisan accord struck in 2013 to lower debate time, but Democrats said it could not be implemented until after the next presidential election when Trump might be replaced by a Democrat.

Democrats are delaying Trump nominees out of opposition to Trump’s 2016 victory, McConnell said.

“Just because they wish our president was not our president,” McConnell said.