Time for Senate Republicans to Decide

Lora Kelly: “Over the next several days, many of Donald Trump’s Cabinet selections will appear before the Senate for confirmation hearings. By putting forth a series of unqualified candidates who, in other political moments, would likely not have made it this far, Trump has muddled the process before the hearings have even begun: As my colleague David Graham put it in November, ‘the sheer quantity of individually troubling nominees might actually make it harder for the Senate to block any of them.'”

“But the outcome of the Senate confirmation hearings is not a foregone conclusion. Yes, Senate Republicans have shown that they are reliably deferential toward Trump (though some drew a line at his selection of Matt Gaetz for attorney general). Many of his picks will be easily confirmed, my colleague Russell Berman, who covers politics, predicted, given the Republicans’ 53–47 majority in the Senate. But with the current makeup of the Senate, each pick can afford to lose only three GOP votes (assuming that every Democrat opposes the nomination), so for the ones who have yet to lock in support from every single Republican, the hearings could make the difference.”