{"articles":[{"id":200,"title":"Senate to Confirm At Least Two Trump Nominees Friday","html_content":"

by Causes | 1.20.17

While the Inauguration Day festivities proceed Friday afternoon, the Senate will go back to work and hold votes to convene to confirm at least two — possibly three — of President Donald Trump’s appointees.

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The two certainties are retired Marine Corps generals James Mattis and John Kelly, who were chosen as Trump’s secretary of defense and secretary of homeland security, respectively. And the Senate will at least start debating a third nominee’s confirmation, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) who was picked to serve as CIA director, but he may have to wait until early next week for a confirmation vote, most likely on Monday if a vote isn’t held today.

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Why so few confirmations?

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Republicans and the Trump team had hoped they’d be able to confirm seven Cabinet picks on Inauguration Day like President Obama did in 2009, but Democrats in the Senate will use procedural tactics to delay confirmation votes on picks they view as controversial. While they don’t have the votes they need to reject a nominee without help from Republicans, Democrats can force the chamber to exhaust debate on the confirmation before a vote occurs. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blamed Republicans for rushing the confirmation process with nominees who he called \"ill-prepared,\" adding that Trump’s Cabinet picks “cry out for rigorous scrutiny.”

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Schumer has been accused by Republicans of breaking a deal to allow a vote on Pompeo’s nomination today, which was made in part to ensure that Trump could have a full national security team in place from the outset of his administration. That led Sen. John Cornyn to tweet that he was willing to keep the Senate in session \"as long as it takes — all night, all weekend\" to get Trump’s Cabinet picks confirmed. In Pompeo’s case, there’s a sense of urgency about filling the vacancy because CIA Director John Brennan resigned from his post when Trump was sworn in today, so it seems he won’t be around to lead the intelligence agency until his successor is confirmed as has occurred in the past.

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What happens next?

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Assuming the Senate votes to confirm them, the three members of Trump’s national security team would be able to assume their roles immediately. Mattis will be able to do so thanks to a bill Congress passed last week which granted him a waiver to a law that otherwise would’ve prevented him from serving as Secretary of Defense. That legislation became the first bill President Trump signed into law shortly after he was sworn in earlier today.

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You can tell your senators how to vote on the confirmations of Mattis, Kelly, and Pompeo using the \"Take Action\" button below.

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— Eric Revell

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(Photo Credit: USMC / Public Domain)*

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