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With less than 11 days away until President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration , Republicans worry that government bureaucracy will prevent the new president from starting his term with a fully confirmed Cabinet.
Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominees traditionally face extensive paperwork obligations including FBI background checks and financial disclosures, but Republicans are now suggesting that this bureaucratic process has the potential to obstruct Trump’s agenda in the early days of his administration. As the Washington saying goes, “Personnel is policy.” The Senate needs to act quickly if they want the Trump agenda to become the Trump reality.
Some Senate Republicans have proposed beginning the hearings for Trump’s nominees while the rest of their required paperwork is being completed. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for example, has scheduled a hearing next week for Trump’s Energy Secretary nominee Doug Burgum as he continues to complete his paperwork and send it to senators.
A majority of both Trump and Joe Biden’s initial Cabinet or Cabinet-level nominees who were not withdrawn were confirmed either in February or March of their first year in office.
During Trump’s first term, his Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security nominees were the only nominees confirmed the first day. Those picks, Jim Mattis and Mark Kelly, had a much easier time navigating the national security bureaucracy as both were retired four-star Marine Corps generals. Their stars also evoked a certain level of deference from Senators considering their confirmation.
By the end of January of 2017, Trump had five total Cabinet-level nominees confirmed (four department heads and the Ambassador to the United Nations). The last initial Trump department nominee to be confirmed was the head of the Department of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, who took office on April 25, 2017. Alex Acosta, Trump’s second nominee to lead the Department of Labor was confirmed by the Senate two days later.
It was not until May of 2017 that the Senate had fully confirmed Trump’s Cabinet and Cabinet-level posts.
Biden had similar results with getting his nominees confirmed before the end of January. He had four Cabinet-level positions filled by the end of January 2021. These were his nominees to lead the Defense Department, State Department, Treasury Department plus the Director of National Intelligence. Biden’s last initial Cabinet-level nominee was confirmed in May 2021.
Recent reporting on the nominees for the second Trump Cabinet has suggested that Secretary of State nominee Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency nominee John Ratcliffe are the most likely to be confirmed on day one.
Rubio appeared cheerful in a post about a meeting he had last month about his nomination with Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho and the hawkish Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Both Rubio and Stefanik have experience with contentious hearings through their time in Congress, and they both still have connections on Capitol Hill. Stefanik, known for her hearing grilling of university presidents, has not yet resigned her seat representing New York in the House of Representatives, and has served in House GOP leadership, which means she has extensive relationships with both House and Senate members. Before Ratcliffe served as the Director of National Intelligence from May 26, 2020 until the end of Trump’s first term, he also was a member of Congress. The combination of legislative and national security experience will serve as a boon for the CIA-bound Ratcliffe. But Rubio has an even greater advantage because he is not only a member of the body considering his nomination but considered a leading voice on foreign affairs.
Having won both houses of Congress and the White House, Republicans are tasked now with governing. They will have a lot on their plate in the upcoming months including passing one or more reconciliation bills to hopefully implement many of Trump’s priorities on deporting illegal aliens, renewing American energy, and tax cuts. Failing to implement the America First priorities will imperil the Republicans during the midterm elections.
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