(From left) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) outlined plans for the rest of the summer session yesterday. C-SPAN

Despite weeks of partisan fighting over health care, Senate leadership said yesterday they're aiming to confirm a slew of pending executive branch nominees before breaking for the August recess.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) both signaled they were making progress on what the Kentucky Republican said could be "a pretty robust package of nominations that will clear, that will help the administration get up and get running, which has been, as you know, quite a challenge for them."

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) contrasted the pace of confirmations under President Obama, when Republicans were in the minority, to that of Trump's record for the same period. Obama's 206 is "about four for every one" of Trump's 55, he said.

He noted that 84 pending nominees have cleared committees and are "ready to go." Barrasso called on Schumer to drop his nominee blockade as vowed, now that the health care fight was over.

Schumer defended the delays, saying Cabinet slots and high-level positions such as the FBI director deserve a close vetting. "To just rush them through doesn't make much sense," he told reporters.

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But the minority leader said he would honor his pledge to stop dragging the confirmation process out.

"When they weren't doing regular order on health care, we were not going to do regular order on the things they want," Schumer said. "And then they say to us no regular order on the most important thing we're facing. But I always said after health care was over, we'd try to get together on a good package, and we're making good progress in that regard."

Among the pending nominees are Robert Powelson and Neil Chatterjee, two Trump picks for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission whose confirmation would restore the agency to a voting quorum for the first time in months.

Should the White House submit the nomination of Richard Glick, the Democrats' pick to fill another FERC vacancy, to the Senate in the coming days, that could ease the path for Powelson and Chatterjee.

Also awaiting floor votes are: Susan Bodine, Trump's pick to lead U.S. EPA's enforcement office; Annie Caputo and David Wright to join the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and Trump's pick to be deputy Energy secretary, Dan Brouillette, who cleared committee last month.

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) recently told Politico he had a hold on Brouillette's nomination over the Trump administration's plans to revive the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

The Senate yesterday voted 66-31 to confirm Kevin Newsom to be a judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which occasionally hears environmental law cases out of Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Newsom, a former solicitor general for Alabama, is Trump's third appeals court appointee. Most recently, he was a partner at Alabama-based Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. He also previously was an associate at the D.C. office of Covington & Burling and a clerk for former Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

Additionally, the Senate confirmed Christopher Wray, to replace fired FBI Director James Comey, by a 92-5 margin.

Senators also approved several Defense picks by voice vote, including: Richard Spencer to be secretary of the Navy; Lucian Niemeyer to be an assistant secretary of Defense; and, Ellen Lord to be undersecretary of Defense for acquisition.

Reporter Amanda Reilly contributed.

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Senate leaders working on 'robust' deal on nominees - E&E News

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