What to Watch in Congress: Confirmation Votes, Regulation Rollbacks
|
Version 0 of 1. WASHINGTON — Emboldened by weeks of protests across the country, congressional Democrats are digging in as Republicans try to swiftly remake a government shaped by the Obama administration. Tensions over President Trump’s early efforts to deliver on a long menu of campaign promises have spilled into the halls of Congress, turning once-routine debates into a proxy battle over a combative president. With the Senate already hinting it could work through the weekend, expect another busy week at the Capitol. Let us get you up to speed. ■ Vice President Mike Pence could well be needed to break a 50-50 tie in the Senate over the nomination of Betsy DeVos as education secretary. ■ Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, could be confirmed by the end of the week. ■ Republicans in Congress will also vote to roll back Obama-era regulations. Mr. Pence may be summoned to the Capitol early this week to cast the 51st vote to confirm Ms. DeVos as education secretary over vociferous, now bipartisan objections. The Senate could vote on her nomination as late as Tuesday. Congressional trivia buffs, take note: It would be the first time that the vice president has been forced to cast a tiebreaking vote on a cabinet nomination, said Betty K. Koed, the Senate historian. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska thrust Ms. DeVos’s nomination into question last week when they became the first two Republicans to declare their opposition. Should the Democratic caucus vote as a bloc, their votes would set up a 50-50 tie that Mr. Pence would have to settle in his capacity as president of the Senate. The Capitol has been flooded with thousands of constituent calls and messages, many of them urging senators to vote against Ms. DeVos. Still, it looks unlikely that any more Republicans will defect, and that would be enough to confirm her. Once the Senate deals with the DeVos nomination, it will move on to the nomination of Mr. Sessions to be attorney general. First comes a procedural vote that sets the timer for up to 30 hours of debate before the final vote. That means Mr. Sessions’s confirmation vote should come later this week, at which point the Senate will start the process over with the nomination of Representative Tom Price of Georgia to be secretary of health and human services, followed by a vote on the nomination of Steven T. Mnuchin to be Treasury secretary. Of course, just because Democrats may not have the votes to block Mr. Trump’s cabinet nominees does not mean they will go quietly. Having stacked up as many parliamentary roadblocks as they could find last week, Democrats are expected to take advantage of the mandatory debate time, probably to air their concerns about Mr. Trump’s picks as well as grievances against their Republican counterparts, who they believe have stymied a thorough examination of some nominees. That could be bad news for senators with plans on Saturday: Republican leaders may keep the Senate in session over the weekend to get the job done. After dusting off the Congressional Review Act last week, the House will use that momentum to continue rolling back recently finalized Obama-era regulations. On Tuesday, the House is scheduled to vote to toss out three rules: an Interior Department rule intended to increase transparency and public input on the use of public lands; an Education Department rule that spells out provisions of a recent education law regarding accountability; and another Education Department rule that sets the parameters for gathering and sharing data on teacher training programs. The Senate began taking up these regulations between nomination votes last week, and it is likely to continue this week, voting after the House to roll back each rule one by one before it is sent to the president. Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, the federal appeals court judge nominated by Mr. Trump for the Supreme Court, will continue his courtesy meetings with senators. Judge Gorsuch is expected to meet on Monday with Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, after having sat down last week with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ms. Feinstein has expressed reservations about Judge Gorsuch, as has Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, who said Mr. Trump’s propensity for flouting “the rule of law” demanded “an independent jurist.” Two weeks after congressional Republicans and Senate Democrats ducked out for their policy retreats, the House Democratic caucus will slip away on Wednesday for its summit meeting in Baltimore. While Republicans spent part of their retreat debating — and occasionally fretting — about how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Democrats seem likely to strategize their response. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, has seized every recent opportunity to condemn Republican plans to get rid of the health care law, as Democrats continue to transmit a simple message across the aisle about the nation’s health care system: If you break it, you buy it. |