Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation chances are coming down to a trio of publicly uncommitted Republican senators who have the power to sink their nominations in committee votes Tuesday.
Sen. Bill Cassidy is the sole wildcard on the Senate Finance Committee, which will decide whether to advance the HHS secretary nominee at 10 a.m. Cassidy has indicated that he’s still troubled by Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism, and he’s balancing his physician past with his political future in deep-red Louisiana, where he’s up for reelection next year.
Cassidy told reporters Monday he had a “cordial” conversation with Kennedy over the weekend but was “still working through” his decision. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Cassidy have talked about it.
Over on Senate Intelligence, Sens. Todd Young and Jerry Moran have yet to disclose how they intend to vote on Gabbard’s nomination for national intelligence director during a closed session at 2 p.m. Young told reporters Monday that he had “a lot of great conversations” over the weekend regarding Gabbard. Moran left Gabbard’s hearing last Thursday saying her responses to his questions on Russia and keeping intelligence nonpartisan were “satisfactory” — but declined to say how he would vote.
Gabbard on Monday won the backing of Sen. Susan Collins, another Intel swing vote, who said the former Hawaii lawmaker “shares my vision” of scaling back the size of the DNI office and “addressed my concerns” over her past support for pardoning NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Sen. James Lankford, another Intel member, also reaffirmed his support for Gabbard despite raising concerns last week that she refused to call Snowden a traitor in her confirmation hearing.
Step back: If Gabbard and Kennedy advance Tuesday, it means President Donald Trump has a strong chance of getting all his Cabinet picks through the Senate (not counting Matt Gaetz). That’s a stunning turn of events from just weeks ago, when it seemed like Kennedy, Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were all in trouble. And it illustrates, yet again, Trump’s iron grip on the congressional GOP.
What else we’re watching:
- Other nominees: Senators confirmed Chris Wright as Energy secretary Monday evening. The Senate also advanced Pam Bondi for attorney general and Russ Vought for OMB director in procedural votes. VA Secretary nominee Doug Collins is set for a confirmation vote at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday. Senate Agriculture on Monday also approved Brooke Rollins to lead USDA.
- Budget resolution bills: Speaker Mike Johnson’s reconciliation plan is already running behind schedule. The House Budget Committee is not planning to vote on a budget resolution this week, despite the speaker’s initial plan to do so, according to two people familiar with the matter. GOP leaders have been scrambling to address demands from committee hard-liners who want deeper spending cuts.
- Bessent’s reassurances on Musk: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reassured Republican lawmakers in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill Monday night that Elon Musk and his team do not have control over a sensitive government system that manages the flow of trillions of dollars in payments, according to five lawmakers in the room. Rep. Andy Barr, a senior Republican on the Financial Services panel, said in an interview that Bessent’s presentation was “very reassuring” to GOP lawmakers and that he’s confident “Treasury has control of the Treasury payments system.” Meanwhile, Democrats are uniting around making Elon Musk their bogeyman — threatening to stall State Department nominees and filing amendments that prevent Musk and his allies from accessing Treasury payment systems.
- David Sacks on the Hill: Trump’s cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence policy czar, David Sacks, will be up on Capitol Hill this afternoon as Republicans craft industry-friendly digital assets legislation. He will speak at a 2:30 p.m. press conference at the Senate Banking hearing room.
Jordain Carney, Daniel Payne, Meredith Lee Hill, Jasper Goodman, Michael Stratford and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
