PAYING TRIBUTE
Democrats try to delay vote with parliamentary procedure
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson touches the name of Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in 2013 in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday during a visit to the memorial plaques in the lobby of the State Department that honor employees who have given their lives in the line of duty.
WASHINGTON — Republicans suspended Senate committee rules Thursday to muscle President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency toward confirmation after Democrats boycotted a vote.
It was seen as the latest sign of political hostilities on Capitol Hill as Senate Democrats used parliamentary procedure to delay votes on some of Mr. Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Republicans used their slim Senate majority to advance and approve them.
Also Thursday, two Senate committees voted along party lines to send Mr. Trump’s nominee to lead the White House budget office, South Carolina GOP Rep. Mick Mulvaney, to the full Senate for a vote.
As the scheduled meeting to discuss EPA nominee Scott Pruitt was gaveled to order, the seats reserved for the 10 Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee were empty for the second consecutive day. Committee rules require at least two members of the minority party be present for a vote to be held.
The 11 Republicans voted unanimously to temporarily suspend those rules, then voted again to advance the nomination of Mr. Pruitt, the state attorney general of Oklahoma. Committee chairman John Barrasso accused absent Democrats of engaging in delay and obstruction.
Democrats did attend meetings of the Senate budget and homeland security committees Thursday as Republicans voted to approve Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. Trump’s nominee to lead the White House Budget Office, for a vote by the full Senate. The move came over the opposition of Democrats who warn of his support for cutting Medicare costs and increasing the age for claiming Social Security benefits.
Senators on Thursday teed up what could be a week of rapid-fire confirmations, taking procedural votes to move forward with nominations of Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama as attorney general, Rep. Tom of Georgia as secretary of health and human services, and Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary.
Those confirmation votes are expected to come early next week, after a whiteknuckle vote on the nomination of Betsy DeVos as education secretary. With two Republican senators opposing Ms. DeVos, her confirmation hangs by a single vote. Mr. Sessions’ confirmation vote is scheduled after that of Ms. DeVos so he can vote “yes” before he leaves the Senate.