Cabinet confirmation hearings dominate agenda as immigration bills move along

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Jan 13, 2025

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WASHINGTON — It’s Trump Cabinet confirmation hearing week at the Capitol.

Senate Republicans will be trying to get as many of President-elect Donald Trump’s prospective nominees ready for floor action as quickly as possible — and to figure out if any of the nominees actually can’t get the votes needed for confirmation.

Tuesday’s slate of hearings includes Trump’s choices to lead the Defense Department, the Interior Department and Veterans Affairs. Particular focus will be on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s hearing for former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for secretary of Defense.

Heseth has faced numerous allegations of impropriety in his past work, and he has worked since Trump announced his nomination to win over GOP senators.

A lot of the action comes Wednesday morning, when a half-dozen hearings will likely be underway at the same time. Five hearings are also scheduled around the same time on Thursday. The Judiciary Committee is expected to spend two days considering the nomination of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department.

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has a Wednesday doubleheader, with a morning hearing scheduled for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s nomination to be Homeland Security secretary and then one in the afternoon for Russell Vought, the nominee to once again lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Wednesday is also confirmation hearing day for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is Trump’s choice to be secretary of State. He will face questions from Senate colleagues at the Foreign Relations Committee.

The Intelligence Committee, where Rubio was most recently ranking member, has a hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the nomination of John L. Ratcliffe to be director of the CIA.

Ratcliffe served as director of National Intelligence in Trump’s first term — but the confirmation hearing for former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, to be the next DNI appears to be delayed.

“It’s a paperwork problem right now with the Office of Government Ethics. We had hoped to have the hearing later this week. It looks like it’s going to be the following week,” Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Sunday regarding Gabbard’s confirmation hearing.

“But she continues to have promotions in the military. She’s a lieutenant colonel. She now has top-level security clearances. She is the right person to keep America secure and safe,” Barrasso said, speaking on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

The other hearings already scheduled for the week include those for the expected nominations to lead the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Transportation and the Treasury, as well as the EPA.

Legislation also on tap

The House floor will be busy again this week, with three more of the GOP priority bills likely up for votes, according to Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

That includes another immigration measure. This one, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., focuses on requirements to deport immigrants who are guilty of domestic violence, certain crimes against children and sexually based offenses more broadly.

The Senate, meanwhile, will continue working on legislation designed to strengthen immigration enforcement against people who commit criminal offenses within the United States.

Senators are scheduled to vote to proceed to the measure at 5:30 p.m. Monday, at which point there will be serious wrangling about what if any amendments may be offered. Barrasso said last week that Republicans were not interested in amendments to dilute the bill, known as the Laken Riley Act.

“There are some Democratic senators who say that they support the Laken Riley Act, but they want to weaken it. Well, to be clear, Senate Republicans are not weakening this lifesaving legislation,” Barrasso said in a Thursday floor speech.

Democrats’ concerns with the bill include provisions that would allow lawsuits from state attorneys general against the federal government, as well as the application of the bill’s provisions to undocumented immigrants who have been arrested but not yet found guilty.

“As currently written I’m a ‘no,’ because it opens the doors for people simply being charged, without a conviction, to be detained and deported,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “That includes minors, that includes Dreamers, that’s shoplifting a pack of bubble gum. There has to be more of a focus on a piece of legislation like this.”

Even though Democrats joined in an overwhelming procedural vote on the bill, it is unclear how many of them would vote for final passage.

The House agenda also includes tax relief for residents of Taiwan and a bill that seeks to require that Title IX protections in athletic competitions are only based on sex defined at birth.

All of this is a prelude to Inauguration Day, after which the pace will pick up with the opportunity to present legislation to Trump for his signature. In addition, the Senate will be able to officially confirm the new president’s nominees once he is in office.

Chris Johnson contributed to this report.