CQ
Published: 01-19-09
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. said Friday that the Senate would begin confirming President-elect Barack Obama ’s nominees to various executive posts as soon as Obama is sworn in next week.
Reid said the Senate plans to confirm “a number” of non-controversial nominations that won’t require a roll call in the hours immediately following Obama’s inauguration at noon Jan. 20 as the nation’s 44th president.
“Any nominations that require votes we will schedule them for the next day” Reid said.
Half of President Bush’s Cabinet members were confirmed the same day he took office. All but two of President Reagan’s 14 Cabinet picks were confirmed by Jan. 22 1981 two days after he was sworn in and all but two of Clinton’s Cabinet members were confirmed just one day after his 1993 inauguration.
Senate committees have been holding hearings on Obama’s picks for Cabinet posts and other executive-branch positions since the chamber convened on Jan. 6. But Obama who moved quickly to select individuals to join his administration cannot formally nominate any the individuals he has selected until he takes office.
Two Democratic senators — New York’s Hillary Rodham Clinton and Colorado’s Ken Salazar — have been selected to join Obama’s Cabinet and could be confirmed as soon as next week. On Thursday the Foreign Relations Committee approved Clinton’s nomination to be secretary of State and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Salazar’s nomination to head the Interior Department.
Neither Clinton nor Salazar intends to resign from the Senate until they are confirmed.
Two Obama picks — Eric H. Holder Jr. for attorney general and Timothy F. Geithner for Treasury secretary — could face delays in full Senate confirmation.
In addition Obama must start over in nominating a Commerce secretary. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson his first choice withdrew because of an ongoing grand jury investigation into whether a California company won a New Mexico state contract after contributing to Richardson’s political causes.
