Rubio, Hegseth and more: Trump's nominees to appear before Senate for confirmation hearings
The president-elect expects to be able to count on his full cabinet for his second White House tenure.
Trump expects his cabinet to make it through Senate filter/
Donald Trump will begin his second tenure in the White House on January 20 and hopes to have his entire cabinet in place as soon as possible. Indeed, the nominees by the still president-elect will begin this week to parade before the Senate to face their confirmation hearings.
In Trump's first presidency, the upper chamber did not return any of the high-profile nominees sent by the Republican, so he hopes not to lose that mark this year.
For a cabinet member to be confirmed, he or she needs to get a simple majority vote in the Senate. In other words, half plus one of the votes. Currently Republicans have a 53-47 majority, so it would take four Republicans voting no to 'knock out' a nomination.
In the event of a 50-50 tie, it would be JD Vance who would tip the vote as vice president. In 2017, this only happened once and with the nomination of Betsy DeVos for the Department of Education. On that occasion, Mike Pence broke the tie and gave the green light to the Michigan philanthropist's nomination.
Trump's Senate cabinet schedule
Tuesday, Jan. 14:
- 9:00 a.m. - Doug Collins for secretary of Veterans Affairs, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
- 9:30 a.m. - Pete Hegseth, nominee for secretary of defense, before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Wednesday, Jan. 15:
- 9:00 a.m. - Kristi Noem, nominee for secretary of Homeland Security, before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- 10:00 a.m. - Pam Bondi, nominee for attorney general, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
- 10:00 a.m. - Marco Rubio, for secretary of state, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
- 10:00 a.m. - John Ratcliffe, for CIA director, before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
- 10:00 a.m. - Sean Duffy, for secretary of Transportation, before the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
- 10:00 a.m. - Chris Wright, for secretary of Energy, before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
- 13:00 p.m. - Russell Vought, for director of the Office of Management and Budget, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Thursday, January 16:
- 10:00 a.m. - Lee Zeldin, for director of the Environmental Protection Agency, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
- 10:00 a.m. - Eric Turner, for secretary of Housing and Urban Development, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
- 10:00 a.m. - Doug Burgum, for secretary of the Interior, before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
- 10:15 a.m. - Pam Bondi, nominee for attorney general, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
- 10:30 a.m. - Scott Bessent, for secretary of the Treasury, before the Senate Finance Committee.
- 13:00 p.m. - Russell Vought, for director of the Office of Management and Budget, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
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