Senate business ground to a halt Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans turned to hardball tactics in the fight over President Trump’s Cabinet nominees, signaling the wall of opposition the administration is likely to face for the foreseeable future.
Democrats turned to a strategy of massive resistance, boycotting committees and forcing floor votes on routine business as they tried to make every action excruciating.
Republicans countered by suspending the rules and powering the nominees to lead the Health and Human Services and Treasury departments through the Finance Committee, even though the committee lacked a quorum because Democrats were boycotting.
“Long story short, we took some unprecedented actions today due to the unprecedented obstruction on the part of our colleagues,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican and chairman of the committee.
Senators did vote to confirm Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state and advanced Sen. Jeff Sessions, the attorney general nominee, though the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote.
Democrats are feeling pressure from their base to thwart Mr. Trump’s Cabinet picks, particularly after a chaotic rollout of his order to suspend the U.S. refugee program and temporarily bar travelers from seven majority Muslim countries.
More than a half-dozen nominees are still on Democrats’ target list. The next fight is brewing over Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department.
A test vote is slated for Friday morning, but two Republicans, Sens. Susan M. Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said they will oppose her nomination, saying they weren’t convinced of her commitment to public schools.
“I’m concerned that Mrs. DeVos’ lack of experience with public schools will make it difficult for her to fully understand, identify and assist with those challenges,” Ms. Collins said.
The Republican defections — the first so far under Mr. Trump — leave the party with no margin for error, and they will be without the help of Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a conservative Democrat who has voted for Mr. Trump’s other nominees but said he won’t back Mrs. DeVos.
If all Democrats and the two Republicans vote against her, she would face a 50-50 tie vote — requiring Vice President Mike Pence to vote to break the tie.
The White House was unconcerned, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying officials are confident that Mrs. DeVos will be approved.
Mr. Spicer, though, did blast Democrats for “childish tactics” in boycotting committee votes.
“The president’s Cabinet nominees will be confirmed on the floor of the Senate once Democrats actually allow them to get a fair vote,” he said.
The latest boycott was in the Environment and Public Works Committee, where Democrats refused to show up in order to block a final vote on Scott Pruitt, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Democrats demanded more answers from Mr. Pruitt.
“The committee Democrats are deeply concerned about the lack of thoroughness of Mr. Pruitt’s responses to our questions for the record,” Sen. Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said in a letter to Chairman John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican.
Committee Republicans said Mr. Pruitt has answered far more questions, both in writing and in person during nomination hearings last month, than other recent EPA nominees.
Democrats on the Finance Committee also refused to appear Wednesday, continuing a boycott for a second day.
Mr. Hatch refused to let the boycott derail the nomination. He said he had no choice but advance Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary and Rep. Tom Price at HHS on a pair of 14-0 votes without any Democrats present.
The panel needs at least one Democrat to be present to form a quorum, but Mr. Hatch suspended those rules.
The roadblocks spilled onto the Senate floor, where lawmakers were forced to vote on routine matters such as approving the chamber’s journal for the day. That is a common practice in the House but is almost unheard of in the Senate, which usually operates on more collegiality.
• Stephen Dinan and Andrea Noble contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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