Earlier on Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Democrats continued their boycott of committee votes to confirm Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) for Secretary of Health and Human Services and Steve Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary. The committee rules require at least one member of each party to be present to hold votes. During the committee meeting, in order to get around the boycott, the committee rules were suspended and the nominations of Price and Mnuchin were reported out favorably.
Meanwhile, a vote by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the nomination of Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has also been delayed by a boycott by the committee Democrats. The committee is expected to reconvene at a future date.
During a sometimes-heated session, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted out favorably the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for the post of Attorney General along a party line vote of 11 to 9.
In separate speeches on the Senate floor, both Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced their intention to vote against the nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education. Both Senators, who are members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over the nomination, had voted in favor of moving DeVos’s nomination forward in committee while expressing reservations about some of the views of the nominee. Given the current make-up of the Senate, and if the other Senators vote along party lines, it is very possible that Vice President Mike Pence may cast the tie-breaking vote in her favor.
Also on Wednesday, the full Senate confirmed Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State by a vote of 56 to 43.