“Trump tapped former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins as the next chair on Dec. 2 — but the White House still hasn’t produced the paperwork needed for the Senate to schedule his confirmation hearing,“ Semafor reports.

“That includes Atkins’ financial disclosure, likely a heavy lift given his marriage into a billionaire family.”

Critics of President Trump shouted down Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) at a town hall meeting in rural Kansas Saturday, causing the senator to end the meeting and leave as people shouted, booed and said “you’re not done,” the Lawrence Times reports.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) is recovering back in North Dakota after falling on Sunday and suffering a “severe concussion,” he said in a Facebook post, Politico reports.

Cramer said that he was walking down to his dock earlier this week when he “stepped on ice and evidently fell hard, hitting the back of my head.”

He added: “I do not remember anything from the fall.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Republicans in the upper chamber have successfully approved 18 of the 22 Cabinet positions, Fox News reports.

“Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso’s office pointed out that former President Barack Obama had only 17 Cabinet officials confirmed by February 19, 2009, during his first term, meaning that Trump outpaced him…”

“His office noted that 18 Cabinet nominees were not confirmed for Obama in 2009 until he had been in office for 36 days, citing official congressional records. Biden did not see 18 Cabinet nominees confirmed for 57 days.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) called Elon Musk’s demands that each federal employee detail their previous week’s activities in an email as “absurd.”

Musk swatted away criticism: “This email is a basic pulse check.”

President Trump appeared to side with Musk.

“The Senate confirmed Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist with a long history of attacking the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to oversee the bureau on a 51 to 49 vote,” the New York Times reports.

“Democrats had hoped to slow or stall the president’s polarizing pick, but ultimately persuaded just two Republicans to join them in voting against Mr. Patel.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “the former majority leader and the most consequential Republican senator of his generation, will announce Thursday he will not seek reelection next year,” Politico reports.

“The announcement is expected in a midday floor speech. It will not come as a major surprise in Washington or his home state: After stepping down as GOP leader last year, he gave few indications he would pursue an eighth term in the Senate.”

“Senate Republicans announced Wednesday they are muscling ahead with their preferred legislative strategy to jumpstart Donald Trump’s agenda — just hours after the president himself backed a much different approach,” CNN reports.

“That power move by Senate Majority Leader John Thune is setting up a dramatic clash with House Speaker Mike Johnson when the House returns next week, and possibly with Trump himself, as party leaders attempt to deliver the White House’s ambitious policy goals despite a historically narrow margin in Congress.”

“And it comes with high stakes: Both chambers must agree on an identical approach to unlock the special powers that allow Trump to pass his agenda without the threat of the Senate filibuster — all while facing critical looming deadlines, such as the expiration of Trump’s tax cuts later this year.”

Axios: White House blesses Senate backup plan on Mike Johnson’s budget.

“Two of Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) longest-serving staff members are leaving his team as the senator takes a more open approach to President Trump than many of his Democratic colleagues are,” NBC News reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Trump has assembled one of the most unorthodox cabinets ever to include two former Democrats and several ex-talk show hosts. He has pushed almost all of them through the Senate—often on tight, party-line votes—using a mix of wooing and pressuring lawmakers, striking backroom deals and enlisting GOP senators to ensure that previously inexperienced nominees were prepared for public hearings, according to more than a dozen people involved in the process.”

Washington Post: “How Trump got the Cabinet he wanted and quashed GOP concerns.”

Kash Patel failed to disclose companies he set up with a “close” friend that were involved in a million-dollar land deal, Mother Jones reports.

“Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced legislation on Thursday to rename North America’s highest mountain ‘Denali,’ after President Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office changing its name to Mount McKinley,” The Hill reports.

“The bill — which is co-sponsored by the state’s junior senator, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) — would require the name Denali be used in all official references to the Alaskan mountain, including in U.S. laws, maps, regulations and other records.”

New York Times: “The story of Mr. Tillis’s secret effort to persuade fellow Republicans to join him in opposing Mr. Hegseth — and his sudden turnabout when it became clear he would be the deciding vote to defeat the nominee — is a tale of political calculation and capitulation by a single GOP senator.”

“But it also helps explain a broader dynamic at play with Mr. Trump back in the White House, as Republicans in Congress, fearful of reprisal by the president and his supporters, have put aside grave reservations and surrendered to his demands.”