The Senate is kicking off affirmation hearings for President-elect Trump’s cupboard nominees this week, with a slew of his picks — some controversial, others with sturdy help — set to seem earlier than committees and area questions on their backgrounds and visions for the administration.
Headlining the checklist of nominees this week is Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to function protection secretary, who has drawn skepticism amongst some for allegations of sexual assault and extreme consuming on the job and previous feedback that ladies shouldn’t serve in fight roles. Hegseth will seem earlier than the Senate Armed Providers Committee on Tuesday.
Along with Hegseth, Trump’s nominees for almost a dozen different Cupboard positions will reply questions this week, as Congress prepares for the president-elect to take workplace in precisely one week.
Additionally this week, the Senate is anticipated to carry extra votes on the Laken Riley Act, the invoice named after the slain Georgia pupil that will require detention of migrants arrested for theft. The measure cleared a key procedural hurdle final week in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote.
On the Home facet, lawmakers will contemplate laws pertaining to transgender athletes and immigration. And the Home Methods and Means Committee is scheduled to carry a listening to on making the 2017 Trump tax cuts everlasting.
Senate to carry affirmation hearings for Trump nominees
Hegseth’s nomination to be secretary of Protection will face a key second on Tuesday, when the previous Fox Information host fields questions from members of the Senate Armed Providers Committee.
The listening to — scheduled for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. — comes days after the highest senators on the Armed Providers panel have been briefed on the FBI’s background examine into Hegseth, in accordance with a number of retailers, a major growth since various lawmakers have been demanding to evaluate the contents because the nomination course of progressed.
And the listening to follows a number of weeks of stories protection centered on the controversies surrounding Hegseth, together with allegations of sexual assault and extreme consuming on the job and former feedback he has made that ladies shouldn’t serve in fight roles within the army.
These considerations are prone to come up on Tuesday, when the 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats on the panel have their probability to query the nominee.
One lawmaker to keep watch over will likely be Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has not dedicated to backing the protection secretary nominee. Ernst is seen as a key vote on the committee, in-part as a result of she is a veteran and survivor of sexual assault.
Ernst met with Hegseth twice in December, calling the second gathering “productive.”
“As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources,” she added in a press release on the time.
With all Democrats anticipated to oppose Hegseth, the nominee can solely afford to lose three Republicans and nonetheless be confirmed — a decent margin that may come into sharp focus within the lead-up to his affirmation vote.
Hegseth will not be the one nominee who will sit for a listening to this week.
Additionally on Tuesday, former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), nominee to be secretary of Veterans Affairs, will seem earlier than the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Doug Burgum, nominee to be secretary of the Inside, will seem earlier than the Senate Power and Pure Assets Committee.
On Wednesday. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), nominee to be secretary of Homeland Safety, will seem earlier than the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee; Pam Bondi, nominee to be lawyer common, will seem earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), nominee to be secretary of State, will seem earlier than the Senate Overseas Relations Committee; John Ratcliffe, nominee to be CIA director, will seem earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee; Sean Duffy, nominee to be secretary of Transportation, will seem earlier than the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; Chris Wright, nominee to be secretary of Power, will seem earlier than the Senate Power and Pure Assets Committee; and Russ Vought, nominee to be director of the Workplace of Administration and Funds, will seem earlier than earlier than the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee.
On Thursday, Scott Turner, nominee to be secretary of Housing and City Improvement, will seem earlier than the Senate Banking, Housing, and City Affairs Committee; Lee Zeldin, nominee to be administrator of the Environmental Safety Company, will seem earlier than the Senate Surroundings and Public Works Committee; and Scott Bessent, nominee to be secretary of the Treasury, will seem earlier than the Senate Finance Committee.
Senate to proceed consideration of Laken Riley Act
The Senate this week will proceed consideration of the Laken Riley Act, which might require that migrants who’re arrested for theft are detained.
The laws — named after the slain Georgia pupil — cleared a key procedural hurdle within the Senate in a bipartisan 84-9 vote final week. Extra votes are anticipated this week, together with on potential amendments.
The Laken Riley Act is the primary piece of laws Republicans are contemplating on this Congress, as they proceed to focus their consideration on immigration and the border. These issues emerged as key points within the 2024 election, and have been seen as ones that have been higher dealt with by Republicans.
The difficulty can also be one which has a historical past of splitting Democrats. Final week, for instance, the Laken Riley Act cleared the Home in a 264-159 vote, with 48 Democrats becoming a member of all Republicans in backing the laws.
The invoice honors Laken Riley, the lady killed by a Venezuelan migrant who was arrested for shoplifting forward of the assault and paroled within the nation. The Home permitted the laws final yr, nevertheless it languished within the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The measure requires the detention of a broad group of migrants, together with people permitted to enter the U.S. to hunt asylum, if they’ve been accused of theft, housebreaking or shoplifting. It has, nonetheless, sparked some considerations amongst immigration advocates as a result of it requires the detention of immigrants proper when they’re charged or arrested for crimes, and never after a conviction.
Home to take up laws relating to transgender athletes, immigration
The Home this week is scheduled to think about the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” a measure that will ban transgender ladies and ladies from competing on college sports activities groups that align with their gender identification.
The laws — which handed the Home on a party-line vote in 2023 — seeks to amend Title IX to bar colleges from letting transgender feminine athletes participate in an athletic program or exercise “that is designated for women or girls.” The measure would outline intercourse as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Consideration of the laws comes after transgender people and points have been invoked a number of instances on the marketing campaign path. And the measure is making its solution to the ground following Johnson’s announcement that transgender ladies wouldn’t be allowed to make use of bogs within the Capitol that match their gender identification.
Moreover, the Home this week is about to think about the “Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act,” which might deem unlawful immigrants who’re convicted of intercourse offense for home violence as “inadmissible and deportable.”
The Home permitted the laws in a bipartisan 266-158 vote final yr, with 51 Democrats becoming a member of all Republicans in help.
“Communities across America suffer the tragic consequences of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ open border policies daily,” Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) workplace wrote in a ground lookout. “We must take a stand against these life-destroying policies that continue to allow criminal illegal immigrants to enter and remain in our country.”
Home to carry listening to on Trump tax cuts
The Home Methods and Means Committee is about to carry a listening to on making the 2017 Trump tax cuts everlasting, a key agenda merchandise on the president-elect’s to-do checklist that Republicans are hoping to attain of their sprawling reconciliation package deal.
The listening to — scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m. — comes as GOP lawmakers are at first levels of crafting a “big, beautiful bill,” as Trump has dubbed it, to enact the president-elect’s priorities in a party-line package deal. A number of provisions within the 2017 Trump tax cuts are set to run out on the finish of 2025.
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), the chairman of the Methods and Means Committee, stated this week’s listening to will level out “the success” of the tax cuts, and make the argument for why they need to be prolonged.
“For the past two years the Ways and Means Committee has been hard at work to extend and build on the success of President Trump’s tax cuts – the most significant tax relief legislation in a generation that unleashed America’s potential and created the best economy of my lifetime,” Smith stated. “Tuesday’s hearing will highlight the success of – and the need to immediately make permanent – the Trump tax cuts that helped working-class families, small businesses, and farmers, grew the U.S. economy at a full percentage point higher than the previous 10-year average and beat economist forecasts.”
“We achieved record 50-year low levels of poverty and unemployment and restored American manufacturing,” he added. “American families and small businesses need certainty that they will not be hit with a $4.6 trillion tax increase at the end of this year. Without action, workers paychecks one year from today will look drastically different as they fork over even more to Uncle Sam.”
