Dem
47
GOP
53
The Senate confirmed its (now-former) member Marco Rubio 99-0 very quickly, but since then, the Democrats are using Senate rules to slow down the confirmation process—just as Republicans did to slow down the confirmation of Joe Biden's picks for judges in December. Turns out both sides know the Senate rules. Republicans whined but Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said: "If every one of President Trump's nominees were as qualified and experienced as Senator Rubio, they would sail through the Senate with bipartisan support. But sadly, too many of the president's nominees do not match Senator Rubio's caliber. Too many have troubling backgrounds. Too many seem unprepared for the job, and proved so during testimony."
Some Republicans noted that all of Barack Obama's first cabinet was confirmed in 2 weeks. However, then it was possible to filibuster nominees, so a nominee had to get 60 votes to be confirmed. This led Obama and previous presidents to pick far less contentious nominees and certainly no nominees that were highly partisan and totally unqualified for the position, as is now the case.
The more controversial the candidate, the more the Democrats will try to delay the vote, in part to allow time for more bad news to come out. On Tuesday, it came out that the ex-wife of Pete Hegseth's brother had a few choice words about the nominee. Yesterday it came out that Robert Kennedy Jr. has a financial stake in the lawsuit against Merck, which is being sued over its Gardasil vaccine, which protects teenagers against the papillomavirus. Kennedy referred clients to Wisner Baum, the law firm suing Merck, and he receives a finder's fee for referrals. He has earned more than $2.5 million from such fees in recent years. This is a clear conflict of interest, since as secretary of HHS he would have the power to regulate Merck. It could hurt Kennedy's chances. His hearing will be explosive, but it is probably a few weeks away.
If the Democrats continue to stall nominations, Trump can try for recess appointments. That would require both the Senate and House to adjourn for 10 days so Trump could make the appointments without the need for Senate confirmation. That would amount to the Senate simply abandoning all its power and constitutional duty and admitting in public that it will just rubber stamp everything Trump wants. It would certainly end the Senate's contention that it is the world's greatest deliberative body. It would also mark the new majority leader, John Thune, as the weakest Senate leader in history. He probably doesn't want to go down that road if he can avoid it. (V)