The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Rex Tillerson as secretary of
State, as part of a fast-paced day for majority Republicans who also
pushed past Democratic resistance to advance three other President Trump
Cabinet picks to a final vote.
The vote to confirm the former ExxonMobil executive as the country's top diplomat was 56-43.
Trump, during Tillerson's swearing in in the Oval
Office, said that it is "time to bring a clear-eyed focus to foreign
affairs." He also praised Tillerson's background, telling him, "Your
whole life has prepared you for this moment."
Earlier in the day, Senate Republicans, frustrated by
Democrats’ attempts to delay other Cabinet confirmations, moved swiftly
to advance three nominees to a final vote.
On the most contentious nomination, the Senate
Judiciary Committee voted along party lines, 11-to-9, to approve Sen.
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for U.S. attorney general.
The move came after Democrats dragged out proceedings
a day earlier. The committee advanced Sessions to the floor on an 11-9
vote.
“No doubt we have the votes” to confirm Sessions, said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a committee member. “It’s going to get done.”
Senate Democrats have attempted to hold up several of
Trump’s Cabinet picks over concerns about their records, as well as
Trump's new policies and recent executive orders on immigration.
Also on Wednesday, the Republican-led Senate Finance
Committee sidestepped Senate Democrats' efforts to slow Trump’s picks
for secretaries of Treasury and Health and Human Services by boycotting
the votes.
Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, suspended
committee rules on the number of members required to vote, to allow
Republican members to vote in favor of Steve Mnuchin as Treasury
secretary and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to serve as Health and Human
Services secretary.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the committee’s top Democrat, argued that Hatch broke the rules.
“What you had was a rump group that met in violation
of Democratic values to confirm two ethically-challenged nominees,” he
told Fox News. “There’s no question about that.”
Mnuchin, Price and Sessions will almost certainly get
the required simple majority needed for confirmation because
Republicans have 52 senators and Democrats have 48.
Still, Democrats temporarily thwarted a Senate
confirmation vote on Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection
Agency, Scott Pruitt, by again boycotting a key committee meeting.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee rules
require at least two members of the minority party be present for a vote
to be held.
Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., called the
move “political theatre” and vowed to "do what is necessary" to advance
Pruitt's nomination, raising the possibility the GOP majority may seek a
rules change like the one Hatch got to push a vote before the full
Senate.
Republicans created their own challenges Wednesday toward confirming Besty DeVos as Education secretary.
GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, and Susan Collins, Maine, said they won't vote for DeVos in the final Senate vote.
That would create a 50-to-50 tied. But Republicans
remain optimistic, considering GOP Vice President Mike Pence would cast
the deciding vote in favor of DeVos.
On Tuesday, Democrats had refused to attend the
meeting to consider Mnuchin and Price, demanding more information about
the nominees.
Hatch called the Democrats’ decision to boycott the vote “the most pathetic thing.”
“We took some unprecedented actions today due to the
unprecedented obstruction on the part of our colleagues,” he also said
Wednesday.
The rule requires at least one Democrat be present
for a vote. With the rules lifted, the committee advanced the
nominations to the floor.
“They should be ashamed,” he said. “The only thing
missing was a member from the minority side,” Hatch continued. But, as I
noted, they, on their own accord, refused to participate in this
exercise.
Hatch said he made the move after getting an OK from
the Senate Parliamentarian Office and that every Republican member of
the committee was present and voting, exceeding the one-third
requirement for a so-called “quorum.”