This week will be busy on Capitol Hill as 13 of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees will be questioned by Senate committees.
While Trump cannot formally submit nominations until he is president—as he will do so shortly after taking the oath of office on Jan. 20—the committees can and will hold hearings featuring the nominees so they can be confirmed upon him entering office.
Constitutional Requirement
Almost all Cabinet nominees require Senate confirmation in accordance with the Constitution, which states that the president “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for.”
Going Before Committees
The nominees testify before the applicable committees. For example, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump’s pick for secretary of state, is scheduled to go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 15, while Doug Burgum, the president-elect’s nominee to lead the Interior Department, is set to testify before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the day before.
Jackson Richman
Author
Jackson Richman is a Washington correspondent for The Epoch Times. In addition to Washington politics, he covers the intersection of politics and sports/sports and culture. He previously was a writer at Mediaite and Washington correspondent at Jewish News Syndicate. His writing has also appeared in The Washington Examiner. He is an alum of George Washington University.
