The week is off to a busy start with Senate committee votes on several of President Donald Trump’s nominees for positions in his cabinet. Here is what happened today (January 31).
Elaine Chao, Department of Transportation
Status: Chao is the new secretary of transportation.
The full Senate confirmed Chao 93-6. The holdouts were Cory Booker (N.J.-D), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Watch the vote here.
Betsy DeVos, Department of Education
Status: Sent to Senate floor.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved her 12-11 along party lines. DeVos makes it out of the committee despite reporting from The Washington Post that she—or someone working for her—plagiarized Vanita Gupta, head of President Barack Obama’s Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, when answering written questions submitted by members of the committee. No date has been released for her full Senate vote.
Watch the vote below.
Rick Perry, Department of Energy
Status: Sent to Senate floor.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the former Texas governor—and former board member for Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the Dakota Access Pipeline—16-7. When Perry ran for president during the 2012 election cycle, Perry infamously said that he would abolish the department he now seeks to run. No date has been released for him to appear before the full Senate.
Ryan Zinke, Department of the Interior
Status: Sent to Senate floor.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee also approved this Republican representative from Montana. The vote was 16-6, with no set date for his final vote.
Jeff Sessions, Department of Justice
Status: Vote delayed.
Long speeches from Democrats pushed the the vote meeting for sessions so long today that the chairman adjourned for the day. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to meet again tomorrow to consider the nomination of Sessions, who has been the target of protests for his past racist remarks.
Watch video of the vote meeting here.
Steven Mnuchin, Department of the Treasury
Status: Vote delayed.
Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee boycotted today’s meeting to vote on Mnuchin’s nomination. Because votes much be attended by at least one member of each of the major political parties, the vote must be rescheduled to an undisclosed date. Dems are heavily questioned the nominee about his role in the foreclosure crisis during his tenure as CEO of OneWest Bank.
Watch the boycotted meeting below.
Tom Price, Department of Health and Human Services
Status: Vote delayed.
NPR reports that Senate Dems also boycotted the Senate Finance Committee’s vote for Georgia Representative Tom Price. There are concerns that Price improperly purchased biomedical stock via a “privileged” discount.
As Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown told reporters today in reference to the skipped votes, “We are not going to this committee today because we want the committee to regroup, get the information, have these two nominees come back in front of the committee, clarify what they lied about—I would hope they would apologize for that—and then give us the information that we all need for our states.”
Watch the boycotted meeting below.