Patel, Stefanik, McMahon Among Picks Awaiting Senate OK

Just short of a month into President Donald Trump’s second term, the Senate has already confirmed the vast majority of Trump’s top Cabinet nominees. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., celebrated the feverish pace of the confirmations, writing on X, “The liberal media told you [Tulsi Gabbard’s, Pete Hegseth’s, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s] Cabinet nominations were in ‘trouble.’ We got the ‘toughest’ ones done at the quickest pace in 20+ years.”

But yet to be confirmed by the Senate are some nominees who will surely play important roles in shaping the Trump administration’s policies.

Kash Patel, FBI Director

Patel’s confirmation process has been as difficult as any.

Democrats, who have accused Patel of sympathies with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protesters and of seeking retribution against political opponents, have delayed Patel’s confirmation process.

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans moved to invoke cloture on Patel’s confirmation, allowing them to confirm him by Thursday at the latest.

Elbridge Colby, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

Colby has gained a surprising amount of attention in recent days, as staunch MAGA conservatives have sounded the alarm on what they see as a move by defense hawks against him.

A foreign-policy analyst who is wary of American intervention in the Middle East, Colby served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017 to 2018, under the first Trump administration. He is the grandson of William Colby, who served as CIA director in the 1970s.

Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk took to X on Sunday, accusing Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., of working against the nomination of Colby.

“The effort to undermine President Trump continues in the U.S. Senate,” wrote Kirk. “@SenTomCotton is working behind the scenes to stop Trump’s pick, Elbridge Colby, from getting confirmed at DOD.”

Asked point-blank to respond to that accusation, Cotton told Fox News that he was still investigating Colby’s past remarks on Iran as a potential nuclear power.

“[Colby’s] written in the past that he thinks that we could contain a nuclear Iran, that it’s plausible and practical to do. That’s not my position; that’s not the president’s position. Again, we’ve got meetings and hearings coming up, so I’ll explore it with him,” the Arkansas senator said.

Cotton added in the interview that he had misgivings over statements made by other Trump nominees—such as with Kennedy on abortion issues and Labor Secretary-designate Lori Chavez-DeRemer on union policy—but that he was ultimately able to come to an understanding with them.

“What we need to hear [from] some of these nominees is that they accept the president’s priorities, they are aligned with his policies, and they will advance those policies,” Cotton said.

Vice President JD Vance stuck his neck out for Colby on X, writing, “[Colby] is a friend and one of the best foreign policy guys in the country. The president has nominated him. And he should be easily confirmed.”

Jamieson Greer, Trade Representative

Greer will play an important role in fulfilling the legal duties necessary to levy most of Trump’s proposed tariffs. 

Recently approved by the Senate Finance Committee, Greer’s nomination is set to advance to the full Senate, although there is no date yet for his confirmation vote.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Secretary of Labor

Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination is a gift to the union members who helped Trump get elected in November. 

A former Oregon congresswoman, Chavez-DeRemer has backed pro-union legislation in the past and has received the endorsement of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.

“Thank you @realDonaldTrump for putting American workers first by nominating Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for U.S. Labor Secretary,” wrote O’Brien in November.

Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination has rankled some business-minded publications such as The Wall Street Journal, which ran an editorial accusing Trump of putting “unions over workers.”

The nominee has also drawn opposition from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who said in late January that he would not support her.

However, it appears Chavez-DeRemer is making ground on her path to confirmation, as several Republican senators have reported productive meetings with her.

Mullin aid of the pro-union pick, “the party has changed.”

Her confirmation hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Kelly Loeffler, Small Business Administration

Loeffler, a former senator from Georgia, nominated to head the Small Business Administration (SBA), has had her nomination advanced to the Senate floor by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

 A longtime ally of Trump, she had a tense exchange with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., at her confirmation hearing over the legality of Trump’s freezing of federal funds.

Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education

McMahon, as the nominee to head the Department of Education, has pledged to make the department “operate more efficiently.”

McMahon, who served for more than two years as SBA administrator in the first Trump administration, would arrive at the Education Department amid much uncertainty, as Trump has frequently discussed downsizing the department.

The president himself said he told McMahon, “I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.”

Elise Stefanik, Ambassador to the United Nations

Stefanik, a congresswoman from New York and former House Republican Conference chair, would serve as a prominent spokeswoman for Trump’s foreign policy agenda if confirmed as ambassador to the United Nations.

But a month after her Senate confirmation hearing, Stefanik has yet to be confirmed. The delay, in this case, is not likely due to obstruction by Democrats, but rather by Republicans.

As Stefanik is leaving behind her upstate New York congressional seat to serve as U.N. envoy, her confirmation could further shrink Republicans’ already thin House majority and make it difficult for House Speaker Mike Johnson to rally enough Republicans behind a budget reconciliation bill.

That would be a catastrophic outcome for the GOP House majority as it seeks to advance Trump’s ambitious agenda in the early days of the administration. Nevertheless, the Trump administration has not wavered in its support of Stefanik for the role.

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