Senate Republicans are preparing for a second straight week where they’re using all of their floor time on confirming President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
At the end of last week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune teed up five more Trump nominees for consideration. But if Senate Republicans want to confirm all of those nominees this week, it would require a time agreement with Democrats.
Senate GOP leaders are prioritizing confirmation votes for former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., two of Trump’s more controversial Cabinet picks.
Tonight, the Senate will vote to invoke cloture on Gabbard’s nomination to be the director of national intelligence. Gabbard, once seen as the most at-risk nominee, won over Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) last week to advance out of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard is unlikely to be defeated on the floor, although GOP Sens. John Curtis (Utah) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.) are two swing votes to watch.
If cloture is invoked, it would set up a confirmation for Gabbard late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, given the 30 hours of post-cloture time required. We don’t expect Democrats to yield back any of that time.
After Gabbard, the Senate will turn to confirm Kennedy to lead the Health and Human Services Department. Kennedy convinced a top critic, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), to back him in committee and seems on track to be confirmed. McConnell, a childhood survivor of polio, isn’t likely to vote for Kennedy. But we don’t see four GOP ‘no’ votes on Kennedy, especially given Cassidy will be a ‘yes.’
Thune on Thursday filed cloture on three further nominations: Brooke Rollins to be secretary of agriculture, Howard Lutnick for secretary of commerce and former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) to be small business administrator. It remains to be seen whether these nominees will get confirmation votes this week.
The other big confirmation news this week will take place inside the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel will vote Thursday on Kash Patel’s nomination to be FBI director. Democrats were able to delay the nomination for a week under Judiciary Committee rules. But Patel looks ready to be moved forward despite new reports about his financial holdings in foreign companies, including Chinese fashion brand Shein and a Russian filmmaker with Kremlin ties.
