WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans will move this week to speed the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, an effort that has been stymied by the combination of lax preparation by Trump’s transition team, his many unorthodox nominees, and Democrats spoiling for a fight.
On Monday, the Senate will vote on the confirmation of Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas to lead the CIA, after Democrats used one of the few procedural maneuvers left to them to force a debate on his inevitable approval.
Republicans had hoped to push through Pompeo and others Friday but were able to confirm only two: James N. Mattis for defense secretary and John F. Kelly to lead Homeland Security. President Barack Obama had seven nominees approved on his first day in office.
Also Monday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, whose road to confirmation has been bumpy.
Tillerson received a lift Sunday when two Republican leaders, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said they would support him, after weeks of public hedging.
“I will be voting in favor of his nomination,’’ McCain said on ABC’s “This Week.’’ He said it wasn’t an easy call, but that the incoming president deserves the “benefit of the doubt.’’
In a later joint statement. Graham said the views Tillerson has expressed privately and publicly during the confirmation process give them confidence he will be a “champion for a strong and engaged role for America in the world.’’
Tillerson has drawn scrutiny over his business ties with Russia and his personal relationship with President Vladimir Putin when he was chief executive of Exxon Mobil.
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, has hinted that he might join Democrats in rejecting him, which would lead to the unusual spectacle of a nominee facing the full Senate without a positive recommendation from the committee that held his confirmation hearing.
But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, predicted confidently Sunday that all Trump’s Cabinet picks would win approval.
“There’s great enthusiasm,’’ McConnell said on “Fox News Sunday,’’ adding that he’s also confident that, “we’ll get a Supreme Court nominees confirmed. I expect an outstanding nominee some time soon.’’
Trump plans to meet Monday with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders to discuss his agenda.
Some Cabinet nominees have been impeded by attempts to untangle their conflicts of interest, a process that Trump’s transition team started far later than its predecessors and that has led to embarrassing revelations.
A committee vote for Betsy DeVos, a billionaire who is Trump’s nominee for education secretary, has been delayed a week to give senators more time to review her voluminous ethics paperwork, which was released after her hearing.
Last week, Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Trump’s choice for White House budget director, disclosed that he had failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a household employee.
Steven T. Mnuchin, Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee, failed to list nearly $100 million in assets on his federal disclosure forms, an oversight that gave Democrats a club with which to beat on him in his Finance Committee hearing.
“Advise and consent doesn’t mean ram it through,’’ Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.’’ “If I were the Republicans, of course I’d want to ram a Cabinet like this through.’’
In a separate appearance on the ABC program, Schumer said Democrats have bipartisan support for proposed legislation to limit Trump’s ability to reduce sanctions on Russia. The bill would require that any changes to sanctions against the country be put to a vote in Congress, restricting the president’s ability to act unilaterally.
The bill is similar to legislation introduced by Republicans in 2015 to limit the president’s ability to ease sanctions against Iran. That bill passed easily with bipartisan support.
