The Senate has cancelled votes scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Senate lawmakers were set to vote at 5:30 p.m. to advance the nomination of Steven Andrew Engle to be an assistant attorney general. But that vote was postponed until Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not immediately explain the change in the schedule, but the postponement comes a day after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced he would be absent from the Senate after suffering five broken ribs in an attack by a neighbor.
Senate Republicans control 52 seats and require a simple majority to confirm nominees, and every lost GOP puts President Trump’s nominees at risk of not being confirmed.
“Confirming the president’s nominees is an important part of the Senate business and I urge my Senate colleagues to work together so we can get this done,” McConnell said.
The postponed vote also follows the mass shooting in Texas that left 27 people dead.
“Why would an individual do this?” McConnell said during opening remarks on the Senate floor. “Our hearts go out to them at this time of untold grief.”
