The new Senate Majority Leader says he wants to get President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet through the confirmation process as quickly as possible but spent a good part of Sunday cautioning there is “a process” that must be followed first.

U.S. Sen. John Thune, in the wake of a deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, said that the incident was a good example of why “the Senate must get President Trump’s national security team in place as quickly as possible.”

On Friday, when the U.S. Congress began its 119th session, the Majority Leader said the upper chamber would work swiftly to “ensure President Trump has his team in place to secure our border, protect our homeland, and provide for our nation’s defense.”

But by Sunday the South Dakota Republican was tapping the brakes as he made the talk show rounds, explaining that Trump’s top picks are going to have some “hard questions” to answer before they are confirmed.

“The Senate has a role: advise and consent. And we intend — we have a lot of our senators who take that role very seriously. And so we will make sure that these nominees have a process, a fair process, in which they have an opportunity to make their cases not only to the members of the committee and ultimately to the full Senate but also to the American people,” he told NBC.

Whether all of the 47th president’s picks make it past muster is an open question, Thune acknowledged, saying that he doesn’t have “clarity” on how the votes will play out. However, he’s inclined to provide the chief executive due consideration when it comes to deciding who serves in his administration, he said.

Republicans only have a three vote margin to work with, so whether any nominee makes it through “is going to be up to each individual senator and how they decide to vote,” the Majority Leader said.

“I suspect a lot of them will get through and we’ll see about all of them. Remains to be seen, but I think that’s why we have the process, and we will adhere to that process and give all of these nominees an opportunity to make their case,” he told CBS.

Thune did not indicate whether he was a “yes” vote on all of Trump’s nominees, but said he’s met with several who have “really, really impressed” him. The confirmation process, he said, will allow them to make the same impression on the full Senate.

“That’s why we have the checks and balances in our system that we have. But my expectation is, and as the leader of the Senate, that we’re going to get the president his people as quickly as possible in the key positions where he wants them,” he said.

According to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, his Democratic colleagues have asked for “three things that are reasonable” heading into the confirmation process.

“First, that there be thorough FBI background checks of every one of the nominees at the cabinet level. Second, that there be hearings where members have the opportunity to fully ask the questions that they want answered. And then third, there be a vote,” he told NBC.

According to the Center for Presidential Transition, through the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Trump, “84% of Cabinet secretaries nominated before Inauguration Day received quick Senate approval – an average of 2.4 days. 95% of Cabinet nominees have received pre-inaugural hearings.”

As of Sunday, the only scheduled hearings are a January 14th Armed Services Committee meeting labelled as “hearings to examine the expected nomination of Peter B. Hegseth, to be Secretary of Defense.”

Hegseth, a former U.S. Army officer and Fox News host, has faced opposition over assertions he’s made regarding the fitness of women in military combat roles, and past allegations of sexual impropriety, which he’s denied. Trump has since defended his pick to lead the Pentagon, saying support for Hegseth’s nomination among senators “is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe.”

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