Senate GOP sticks with full-bore Trump Cabinet confirmation schedule despite ethics questions


Senate Republicans have scheduled confirmation hearings for at least nine of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees this week, starting Tuesday with Homeland Security nominee John Kelly, and Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's pick for attorney general. On Friday, the nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics (OGE) raised a red flag, saying that, because Trump's nominees have not been vetted for conflicts of interest, some of them have "potentially unknown or unresolved ethics issues" and "this schedule has created undue pressure on OGE's staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews."
On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) brushed aside concerns about nominees not yet cleared by the FBI or OGE, saying "papers are still coming in" and suggesting the Democrats' "little procedural complaints" are due to their "frustration" at having lost. "We need to, sort of, grow up here and get past that," he said on CBS's Face the Nation. When President Obama won in 2008, McConnell said, "we confirmed seven Cabinet appointments the day President Obama was sworn in. We didn't like most of them, either. But he won the election."
Republicans hold a 52-48 majority, and thanks to filibuster reforms Democrats enacted amid robust GOP procedural delays, the majority party needs only 51 votes to confirm Trump's nominees. On Jan. 20, 2009, the Senate — with 58 Democrats and 41 Republicans — did confirm some big Obama nominees, like Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Department secretary (Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican, was a holdover from the previous administration). But Democrats noted that in February 2009, McConnell had written his counterpart, then-Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), asking him not to schedule any hearings until both the FBI and OGE had finished their vetting.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"No administration, Republican or Democrat, has tried to do what these Republicans are trying to do with their nominees," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday. "This is not an issue that pits Republicans against Democrats — it pits Republicans against all Americans and an independent ethics agency that is tasked with ensuring the president's Cabinet follows the law," he added, urging Republicans to hold off on presenting the nominees to Senate scrutiny rather than "trying to ram them through as quickly as possible."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Is Andy Burnham making a bid to replace Keir Starmer?
Today's Big Question Mayor of Manchester on manoeuvres but faces a number of obstacles before he can even run
-
Christian Brückner: why prime suspect in Madeleine McCann case can refuse Met interview
The Explainer International letter of request rejected by 49-year-old convicted rapist as he prepares to walk free
-
Angela Rayner: the rise and fall of a Labour stalwart
In the Spotlight Deputy prime minister resigned after she underpaid £40,000 in stamp duty
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants