Trump Cabinet confirmation hearings **live commentary thread**

[Xing]

Any word on Murkowski?

[Pheurton Skeurto]

Politico: Collins is leaning no on DeVos

Let's see if she has a spine

She's not up for re-election until 2020 anyway, and I don't think voting no on someone grossly incompetent to head the Department of Education is going to make or break a re-election bid, should she seek one.

[RogueBeaver]

Collins is a no.  https://twitter.com/ByronTau/status/826866181638348800

[Santander]

Collins is a no.  https://twitter.com/ByronTau/status/826866181638348800

RINO

[KingSweden]

The U.S. Attorney for Maryland to be nominated as Deputy Attorney General:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-to-nominate-rod-rosenstein-deputy-attorney-general/ar-AAmtzv2?li=AA5a8k&ocid=spartandhp

Sounds like a career DOJ guy, not a GOP hack. Hopefully a non-terrible choice

[Ronnie]

Thank you, Senator Collins!

[RogueBeaver]

Murkowski is NO. So Pence's first tiebreaker it is. https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/826870465125765127

[Gass3268]

Murkowski is NO. So Pence's first tiebreaker it is. https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/826870465125765127

Depends on if they confirm Sessions first or not.

[RogueBeaver]

Murkowski is NO. So Pence's first tiebreaker it is. https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/826870465125765127

Depends on if they confirm Sessions first or not.

They've already said yes on Sessions, as has Manchin.

[Gass3268]

Murkowski is NO. So Pence's first tiebreaker it is. https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/826870465125765127

Depends on if they confirm Sessions first or not.

They've already said yes on Sessions, as has Manchin.

What I meant is if Sessions is confirmed by the Senate before DeVos there will only be 99 Senators, 50 Nay's 49 Ayes.

[RogueBeaver]

Which is why they're doing Sessions later.

[Santander]

Murkowski is NO. So Pence's first tiebreaker it is. https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/826870465125765127

Depends on if they confirm Sessions first or not.

They've already said yes on Sessions, as has Manchin.

What I meant is if Sessions is confirmed by the Senate before DeVos there will only be 99 Senators, 50 Nay's 49 Ayes.

McConnell isn't stupid enough to let that happen.

[Xing]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

[Santander]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

lol you think they care.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Murkowski is NO. So Pence's first tiebreaker it is. https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/826870465125765127

Depends on if they confirm Sessions first or not.

They've already said yes on Sessions, as has Manchin.

What I meant is if Sessions is confirmed by the Senate before DeVos there will only be 99 Senators, 50 Nay's 49 Ayes.

McConnell isn't stupid enough to let that happen.

Fun fact: Biden never cast a tiebreaker vote, and it looks like Pence will get one right away.

[Pandaguineapig]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

Anyone who is going to be extremely upset over devos being confirmed as education Secretary is already a hardcore democrat, odds are we hear very little about her if she gets confirmed

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Yeah, DeVoss should be one of the Democrats lesser worries.

[Devout Centrist]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

Anyone who is going to be extremely upset over devos being confirmed as education Secretary is already a hardcore democrat, odds are we hear very little about her if she gets confirmed

Devos is just so utterly incompetent and so clearly motivated by donations. She doesn't have the credentials for the job.

[Pandaguineapig]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

Anyone who is going to be extremely upset over devos being confirmed as education Secretary is already a hardcore democrat, odds are we hear very little about her if she gets confirmed

Devos is just so utterly incompetent and so clearly motivated by donations. She doesn't have the credentials for the job.

Every cabinet has patronage appointments unfortunately but this is a position that has very little power in a department that is controlled mostly by mid-level bureaucrats.

[Devout Centrist]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

Anyone who is going to be extremely upset over devos being confirmed as education Secretary is already a hardcore democrat, odds are we hear very little about her if she gets confirmed

Devos is just so utterly incompetent and so clearly motivated by donations. She doesn't have the credentials for the job.

Every cabinet has patronage appointments unfortunately but this is a position that has very little power in a department that is controlled mostly by mid-level bureaucrats.

Yeah, but does it have to be this obvious? Make her ambassador to some county and call it even.

[Pandaguineapig]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

Anyone who is going to be extremely upset over devos being confirmed as education Secretary is already a hardcore democrat, odds are we hear very little about her if she gets confirmed

Devos is just so utterly incompetent and so clearly motivated by donations. She doesn't have the credentials for the job.

Every cabinet has patronage appointments unfortunately but this is a position that has very little power in a department that is controlled mostly by mid-level bureaucrats.

Yeah, but does it have to be this obvious? Make her ambassador to some county and call it even.

In hindsight devos was ridiculously controversial for an education Secretary(she'll still likely get confirmed with pence as a tiebreaker) there are charter school advocates with much less baggage

[SteveRogers]

Yeah, DeVoss should be one of the Democrats lesser worries.

In the grand scheme of things, sure, in the sense that a badly mismanaged Education Department will do less damage to the country than, say, a bad DOJ or State Department. But DeVos is at best, one of the most manifestly unqualified of Trump's nominees and at worst hostile to the purpose of the Education Department.

[riceowl]

Uh I just saw an advertisement to confirm Jeff Sessions on CNN. Anyone else? That's bizarre.

[Xing]

If DeVos ends up being 50-50, with Pence as the tie-breaking vote, surely Republicans know the backlash they're going to face for that...

lol you think they care.

Of course they think they can afford to ignore it. We'll see how well that works out for them.

[Illiniwek]

Cheers to you Collins and Murkowski!