The Senate on Tuesday will begin confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s top nominees, with 10 of the 15 Cabinet nominees set to testify across three consecutive days.
While the initial hearing schedule shows a fast pace, delays in the Senate receiving FBI background check reports, nominee financial disclosures and other required ethics paperwork threaten to slow down the confirmation process.
Republicans hope to confirm some of Mr. Trump’s national security nominees on Inauguration Day, but that goal has been thrown into question because of the vetting process.
“We got to make sure the paperwork is here, that the Office of Government Ethics gets the reports in, because you can’t hold the hearings until you get paperwork,” Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming said.
He still expected the required documents to arrive before the hearings occur.
The Senate has a busy pre-inauguration week of confirmation hearings scheduled for the attorney general nominee and potential secretaries of the Departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs — all Cabinet posts.
Three other nominees, Mr. Trump’s picks for Central Intelligence Agency director, Environmental Protection Agency administrator and White House Office of Management and Budget director, are also on tap to testify before Inauguration Day.
Confirmation hearings for five Cabinet slots — the secretaries of the Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services and Labor departments — are not yet scheduled. At least some of those nominees appear caught up in the paperwork delays.
Some GOP-led committees scheduled hearings before receiving the required background information, drawing condemnation from Democrats.
“Americans have to ask, what are Republicans trying to hide when they don’t want their nominees to have background checks and don’t want to have full information about them?” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said in floor remarks.
He specifically called out Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for scheduling confirmation hearings for Energy Secretary nominee Chris Wright and Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum without the minority party’s consent, but he also referenced a broader problem of some GOP committee chairs “resisting” the customary vetting process.
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, the new Energy Committee chair, said he expects to have the required information back from the Office of Government Ethics before his panel’s scheduled hearings.
He said he does not believe it will be necessary to reschedule but would “if we get to the point where everybody, despite their best efforts, can’t get it done.”
Democrats are also frustrated about information they’ve not received on Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who will be the most closely scrutinized of the nominees set to testify next week. His confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who serves on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters the Trump transition team is “stonewalling and withholding information.”
While the background check is required for all nominees, lawmakers are especially eager to view the FBI report on Mr. Hegseth because he’s been accused of sexual assault, excessive alcohol abuse at work-related functions and financial mismanagement of two veterans organizations he ran — allegations that he has denied.
“If it’s concealed in advance of the hearing, there’s no way for us to question him about it and essentially get responses from him on issues that it raises, so we may be compelled, in good conscience, to vote against him if we don’t have enough information,” Mr. Blumenthal said.
The Trump transition team, in response to a question from The Times, said there haven’t been any delays.
“Paperwork is being submitted quickly to ensure the confirmation process is smooth and President Trump is able to implement his agenda mandated by the American people on day one,” transition spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said in floor remarks Thursday that he wants to “keep up a steady pace of progress” in processing Mr. Trump’s nominees.
He noted that in 2009, the Senate had confirmed 12 of President Obama’s Cabinet secretaries within 15 days of him taking office.
“It took the Trump and Biden administrations roughly three times longer to get the same number confirmed,” he said.
Mr. Thune said his goal is to return to the Obama standard, which will require Democratic cooperation to move through the nominees that quickly.
“But we’ll be ready to proceed whether or not Democrats choose to cooperate,” he said.
Democrats say their cooperation is dependent on receiving the required background information.
“The issue is advise and consent,” Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, said. “The United States Senate is not supposed to be a doormat.”
The Times asked Mr. Thune if the background paperwork delays were hampering his goal of moving nominations as quickly as possible.
“We need the paperwork, obviously, for our committee chairs and the committees to do their work,” he said. “So we’re doing everything we can on our end to expedite that. But it’s important that everything be ready, because we’ve got a ton of hearings scheduled.”
Asked if any nominees would be ready to be confirmed on Inauguration Day, Mr. Thune said, “That would be nice. We’ll see.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.