If you work in the Senate, we’re sorry about your weekend plans for the foreseeable future.
Majority Leader John Thune appears to be making good on his threat to keep senators in town to confirm a trio of President Donald Trump’s nominees, after Democrats delayed CIA pick John Ratcliffe and continue to raise concerns about Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary. And Republicans are responding to Trump’s renewed talk of recess appointments by saying they’re not going to have a recess until all of his Cabinet nominees are confirmed.
That could take a while. In Trump’s first term, Republicans didn’t get all of his initial Cabinet confirmed until April. And Democrats tell us they’re not inclined to speed up the confirmation process for Trump’s more controversial appointees just to avoid dreaded weekend work or an extended stay in Washington.
“We can’t be aggressive enough, because these nominees are really, many of them, absolutely repugnant to the rule of law and to the need for qualifications,” Sen. Richard Blumental (D-Conn.) told reporters.
With Ratcliffe coming up for a floor vote today, Democrats are turning their attention to Hegseth. Several Democrats believe some Republicans may vote against him; four GOP senators can sink the confirmation. Senators continue to parse the affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law alleging he caused his second wife to fear for her safety, though Hegseth’s lawyer denied the claims and several Republicans have dismissed the accusations.
Here’s what else we’re watching:
- Ratcliffe and other nominees: The Senate is set to advance Ratcliffe’s nomination Thursday morning, with a confirmation vote expected later in the day. They’ll move on to Hegseth and Kristi Noem for DHS secretary in the coming days. Doug Collins, Lee Zeldin, Doug Burgum, Chris Wright and Eric Turner are all getting committee votes Thursday.
- Reconciliation problems: The speaker will continue to hear out Republican members’ concerns as they try to strategize a path forward on budget reconciliation — including at next week’s annual House GOP retreat. In an illustration of the tough road ahead, tensions flared at a Wednesday House GOP meeting centered on how to pay for the party’s massive policy agenda. GOP committee chairs who outlined possible cuts across programs and agencies under their jurisdictions at times offered a much different outlook than House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), according to three Republicans who were in the room for the presentations.
- Abortion bill up in the House: The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, would “prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion,” is coming up for a vote in the House Thursday afternoon. It doesn’t have a shot at becoming law, though — Democrats blocked it in the Senate on Wednesday.