Democratic tactics delaying confirmation votes on Trump’s team
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are moving aggressively to push through Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees despite Democratic opposition and tactics to delay confirmation votes that have prevented the president from assembling his team.
The White House has complained that the Senate has failed to adhere to Senate courtesies afforded Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who saw most of their Cabinet nominees confirmed by this time in their first terms.
And Republicans in the Senate point the finger directly at Democratic lawmakers, who have complained loudly that Trump’s controversial executive orders have led to chaos, and that his picks to head federal departments and agencies require extensive examination.
“The source of chaos is the Democratic caucus here in the Senate,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
McConnell said obstruction by Democrats has delayed the process, but will not derail the expected confirmation of nominees.
“None of this is going to lead to a different outcome,” McConnell said. “All of them are going to be approved.”
By this point in 2001, Bush had all 14 Cabinet secretary nominee confirmed plus two other top appointees. Obama saw 15 of his 22 Cabinet-level nominees in office by Feb. 3, 2009.
Only six of Trump’s selections have been voted on — and approved — in the Senate, where Democrats have boycotted committee hearings and votes to advance nominees.
Some of the early Trump nominees have sailed through the Senate where Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority. Others, like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil CEO, have been close and along party lines. Only three Democrats voted to support him.
EMBATTLED NOMINEE
Next week, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Betsy DeVos, the embattled pick to head the Department of Education. Two Republicans have voiced opposition to her confirmation, leaving a possible 50-50 tie.
In that case, Vice President Mike Pence would be forced to cast a tie-breaking vote, a historic first, according to Senate records.
So far, Nevada’s senior U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican, has voted to confirm all of Trump’s nominees. Heller voted for Tillerson, and the senator voiced support for DeVos. 
“Betsy DeVos understands the need to bring back education control to state and local boards, and I look forward to working with her to empower our parents, teachers, students, and local education officials,” Heller said in a statement last week.
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., has supported three Cabinet-level nominees, and opposed three others. She voted against Tillerson and, like other Democrats, she has denounced DeVos for failure to understand current federal education policy.
Cortez Masto said that during a confirmation hearing, “DeVos appeared to be wildly out of her depth on major policy areas that would be under her jurisdiction if she were confirmed.”
Cortez Masto also voted against John Kelly for Homeland Security and Mike Pompeo to head the CIA, but supported Defense Secretary James Mattis, Commerce Secretary Elaine Chao and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
She voted in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to move the nominations of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., to the full Senate for a confirmation vote for Energy and Interior departments.
Heller, in the Senate Finance Committee, joined Republicans who voted en bloc to move Trump’s treasury secretary nominee, Steve Mnuchin, the former OneWest Bank founder, to the Senate for a vote after committee Democrats boycotted hearings to delay action.
HELLER CONFRONTS MNUCHIN
Mnuchin was grilled by Heller during an earlier confirmation hearing over OneWest foreclosure and loan assistance to homeowners in Nevada when the housing bubble burst during the Great Recession.
Heller complained that Mnuchin failed to provide answers to his questions, but later posted a message on social media saying those answers have since been received. Heller has not said how he will vote on the Mnuchin nomination.
In her own social media message, Cortez Masto praised her colleagues on the Finance Committee who delayed action on Mnuchin, citing Nevadans who lost their homes “at the hands of OneWest.” She has come out in opposition to Mnuchin’s nomination.
A vote on Mnuchin could come next week.
The political drama that has delayed Senate action on the remaining Cabinet nominees has pricked the White House. Spokesman Sean Spicer complained that the actions have prevented the administration from tackling the challenges that face the country.
“They are doing their constituents and our country a disservice by resorting to these childish tactics,” Spicer said.
But some political experts said that White House complaints that their nominees are not being treated fairly, compared to other presidents, is only part true.
“They have a complaint that this is going on longer than in the past, but their nominees are incredibly contentious,” said Stephen Hess, an expert on the presidency at The Brookings Institution.
’A LOT OF VETTING’
Hess said that as a result of the nomination of “billionaires without government experience, there is a lot of vetting and investigating.”
“The president has appointed a lot of people to departments and to oversee programs that they opposed. He is picking a lot of people that Congress, the press and the people need to know a lot about,” said Hess, who worked for Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
Hess said Trump’s controversial executive orders have also posed problems for quick confirmation of his nominees, troubling Democrats who want answers from those appointed to high-level posts on their position on issues like immigration, trade and climate change.
Still, Hess said he expects the nominees to be eventually confirmed, barring some unknown scenario.
“They would have to dig up a very good scandal for someone to be turned down,” he said.
The confirmation battle is expected to continue with Senate consideration of federal Judge Neil Gorsuch, the nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Because of Trump’s recent executive orders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said there is a “special burden” on this nominee to be an independent jurist. 
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.
