Expect a traffic jam in the Senate as the race begins to confirm the election of President-elect Trump nominees for the cabinet.
In short, nothing can happen until President-elect Trump takes office on January 20.
Yes, there will be plenty of Trump loyalists attending various inaugural balls in town.
But once the inauguration festivities at the Capitol are over, the Senate will get to work. A handful of committees are already planning “markups” to potentially dismiss or send several nominations to the floor. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has already ended its meeting at 3:15 PM and on January 20 for the appointment of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to become Secretary of State. And if the practice holds, the Senate will confirm at least some of Trump’s nominees just hours after he takes the oath of office.
A USER’S GUIDE TO CERTIFYING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Let history be our guide:
The Senate confirmed Trump’s Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly on the evening of January 20, 2017. The next confirmation didn’t come until January 31, 2017. That was Elaine Chao, wife of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. R-Ky.), becomes Secretary of Transportation.
In 2021, the Senate confirmed one of President Biden’s nominees shortly after he was sworn in. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was the first Biden nominee to be confirmed – on the night of January 20, 2021. The first cabinet-level vote did not take place until January 22, when the Senate confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The coming weeks are littered with confirmation hearings for newly elected President Trump’s Cabinet picks — but the pace at which we can expect them to be confirmed and take office is a whole different beast. (All photos via Getty Images)
So while everyone tries to put on their tuxedos on Monday night, you can look forward to the Senate on the evening of January 20th to possibly vote on a nominee or two.
Fox is told that Rubio could be the most likely nominees since he is a well-known figure in the Senate and has bipartisan support. Another possibility would be CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe. The Senate previously confirmed Ratcliffe as director of National Intelligence during the first Trump administration. He is also a well-known entity in the halls of Congress and served as a Republican congressman from Texas. His hearing is set for tomorrow.
Frankly, the ambitious timetable for quickly approving a number of nominees could be a challenge.
THE SPEAKER’S LOBBY: THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO CHOOSING A HOUSE SPEAKER
The Senate Energy Committee had to postpone Tuesday’s confirmation hearing for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum from Tuesday to Thursday due to paperwork delays. Doug Collins, candidate for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is not controversial. He is a former GOP congressman from Georgia. But his confirmation hearing set for Tuesday was postponed until next week. Collins may have been a figure who could have been quickly confirmed.
Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi is also someone who could receive relatively quick confirmation. Her hearing is Wednesday and Thursday. So maybe next week for her? Unclear.
But let’s look at the Senate’s record of confirming President Biden’s nominees against expectations for the new election. Trump administration.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is one of a handful of Trump nominees who may get a relatively quick confirmation, though election delays are far from unusual. (MANDEL EN/AFP via Getty Images)
After Lloyd Austin, the Senate confirmed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on January 25, 2021 and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 26. Most Cabinet officials were not confirmed until February or March. The Senate did not confirm Interior Secretary Deb Haaland until March 15, 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra until March 18, 2021, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh until March 22, 2021.
You get the idea.
Each nominee must go through a hearing. Committees have different rules about how they communicate a nomination to the audience. So that can also take some time. Some nominees may be locked into the committee depending on opposition or attendance issues. Then there can be a discussion on the floor.
THE POLITICAL LIGHTHOUSE THAT STANDS ON CAPITOL HILL
If Democrats filibuster a nominee, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) may have to take a procedural gamble to break the filibuster. The process of initiating a procedural vote to break a filibuster alone takes parts of three days. If a nominee’s opponents still won’t concede, senators may delay debating the nominee for a day or two — even if the Senate broke a filibuster.
In February 2017, Mike Pence became the first vice president to break a tie to confirm a Cabinet official. He did this to confirm former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
In other words, floor time is valuable. There are different parliamentary ‘meridians’ for when the Senate can take certain procedural votes to advance a candidate. That’s why the Senate held a procedural vote on DeVos’ nomination at 7 a.m. in February 2017. The Senate also confirmed then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price at around 2 a.m. one morning.
Mike Pence was the first vice president whose vote was needed to break the tie in appointing a Cabinet secretary — that secretary was former Department of Education head Betsy DeVos. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
And we haven’t even gotten to other nominations that are important to the government – such as Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada or Mike Huckabee as ambassador. to Israel. There are more than 800 positions that require Senate confirmation.
To speed things up, the Senate could confirm some non-controversial nominees en bloc. That means the Senate approves the nominees on both sides to ensure there are no objections. If there are none, the Senate draws up a list and confirms a group of nominees in one fell swoop.
But this is a long and difficult process. Confirming various positions in the Trump administration will take months. It takes hours of floor time. That is the most precious commodity in the Senate. Keep in mind that the push to confirm Trump’s nominees comes as the Senate tries to work out a timing deal and amendments to pass the Laken Riley Act and a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court over its arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
This is a monster process. And it will probably take several early mornings, very late evenings, and even some weekend sessions before this is sorted out.
