The Senate will be holding the first two confirmation hearings a week before President Donald Trump is inaugurated. The idea is to fast track all of his cabinet choices and get things moving in the right direction quickly. Pete Hegseth and Pam Bondi are both expected to be confirmed without much of a fight.
Senate confirmation starts
Two separate Senate committees will start confirmation hearings on January 14. First up for approval are Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense and Pam Bondi for Attorney General. Senators from both sides are expected to “grill” 44-year-old Hegseth.
He’s the most controversial of all Trump’s picks. He’s also just what we need to clean up the Pentagon. “He breathes the military. That’s all he talks about.”
Bondi, on the other hand, is expected to sail right through the Senate approval process. She’s been hearing favorable comments from practically everyone. One thing is certain, she’ll be a whole lot more popular with We the People than Merrick Garland. Bondi won’t be playing hide the ball with important evidence.
“As a career prosecutor, Attorney General Bondi will be ready from the first day on the job to fight on behalf of the American people to reduce crime, tackle the opioid crisis, back the women and men in blue, and restore credibility to the Department of Justice,” her former colleagues wrote in a letter to the committee.
The Armed Services Committee is sharpening their questions for Hegseth. Democrats have been digging into his past and plan to turn it into the same sort of circus we had when Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
After the dust clears there are enough Republican Senate votes in his favor to get him approved. It’s been reported that “zero” Republicans have “knives out for the former Fox News personality in private — despite several expressing reservations publicly.”
Bondi a hit
Pam Bondi is already a big hit with Iowa Senator Charles Grassley. That’s a good thing for her because he’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They’ll be handling her confirmation hearing. “I’m enthused with her work as Attorney General of Florida and what she’s done as a prosecutor,” Grassley grins.
“I think we’re going to find the Justice Department prosecuting and not being used as a political weapon against political enemies.” There’s no love lost between him and Garland.
The conservative senator notes that Team Trump can help the process along by getting the paperwork over before they get started. “There’s one thing that can speed up her nomination, and that is if the transition team that we’re working with of the new Trump administration would get the background investigations and the other paper — particularly the ethics reports that we ought to have.”
The Senate is anxious to get her on the job. “We don’t have any of that paper yet. I want to get it so I can schedule her hearing for the 14th.”
For both nominees, Republicans only hold a four vote advantage over Democrats. With everyone voting, the GOP holds a 53-47 Senate majority. They’re standing solidly behind Donald Trump’s agenda.
Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming wants all Trump’s national security choices confirmed in the Senate “as soon as possible.” Especially after an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Day terror attack. The explosion the same day in Las Vegas is equally concerning, whether they turn out to be related or not.
