The House and Senate are back from the long weekend recognizing the late Civil Rights leader, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and already Congress is at work — though arguably the politics didn’t stop this weekend.
The Senate is gearing up for a second round of fights over President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees as Republicans race to clear his picks ahead of Friday’s Inauguration of the 45th President.
Eight nominees are heading to Capitol Hill this week to face what is expected to be an hours-long grilling from lawmakers. Democrats face an uphill battle to block any of Trump’s picks, which require only 50 votes to clear the Senate. While Democrats have not publicly said they would block nominees from getting confirmed quickly, they can use procedural levers to drag out a nomination for days and have stressed that a nominee’s paperwork must be complete — lawmakers need enough time to review it and ask follow-up questions.
Highlights include:
On Tuesday, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Betsy DeVos, Trump’s picks for Interior and Education, respectively, will both get hearings.
On Wednesday, hearings for Wilbur Ross, Trump’s Commerce secretary; Tom Price, his Health and Human Services pick; Scott Pruitt, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and Nikki Haley, named to be U.N. ambassador.
On Thursday, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, tapped to lead the Department of Energy, and Steve Mnuchin, his pick for Treasury, will get hearings.
Trump’s Inauguration is three days away. The Washington Post has a good article on what to expect as well as a (growing) list of Members that won’t attend.