Since then, nothing has happened to move his nomination forward. Small Business Administration nominee Kelly Loeffler and Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick both passed cloture votes last week, meaning their floor votes will almost certainly come before Patel’s.
Most of President Donald Trump’s nominees are quickly moving through the confirmation process, but Democrats seem to be selectively stalling on other nominees, such as Patel.
“We are inviting a political disaster if we put Kash Patel in this job,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said during Patel’s confirmation hearing.
Similarly to how they used as much time as possible to debate Russell Vought’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Business, Democrats are likely to do the same for Patel.
Although the Senate should hold a cloture vote soon, they can use other votes, such as those for Loeffler and Lutnick, as well as a confirmation hearing for Secretary of Labor nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer tomorrow, as an excuse to push the vote back further.
Patel, who had his hearing on Jan. 30, should be the Senate’s top priority for a confirmation vote.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, one of Trump’s more controversial nominees, moved from hearing to a floor vote in 10 days. If the Senate could confirm Hegseth with that level of efficiency, they should be able to do the same for Patel.
The position of FBI Director is arguably more important than that of Secretary of Commerce or head of the Small Business Administration. One could argue that the Senate is also stalling on the other nominees, as Loeffler and Lutnick had their hearings on Jan. 29, or one day before Patel’s, whose committee vote was originally scheduled for Feb. 6 before being delayed by one week.
Patel and United Nations Ambassador nominee Elise Stefanik are the only presidential nominees who had a hearing in January and are still awaiting cloture votes.
Stefanik’s case can be justified, as she is a key vote in a closely divided House of Representatives. Her confirmation will likely be delayed until the April 1 special elections to replace former Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz.
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Patel has been held back, in part, because Democrats fear he will enact a DOGE-style investigation of the FBI.
The Trump administration needs Patel at the head of the FBI as soon as possible. The Senate needs to vote for confirmation as soon as possible.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
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