Vice President-elect J.D. Vance has held several positions this year, but his goals are now focused on ensuring Donald Trump's administration wins early and often.
Mr. Vance is no longer campaigning, but as a sitting senator he is preparing to take office and playing perhaps the most important role other than Mr. Trump himself in staffing a future administration.
This is a tall order, and it looks like Vance will have to be in multiple places at once, and the stakes are high. Mr. Vance is under pressure to prioritize his time on the initiatives most impactful to President Trump's transformational agenda.
The order will force Vance to forego some votes in the Senate, even as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) seeks to force a vote on President Joe Biden's nominees for judicial posts. Ta. But Democrats hold a 51-49 majority, with Vice President Kamala Harris voting if needed. Therefore, Vance's vote likely won't be the deciding factor in most confirmation votes, allowing him to work effectively elsewhere.
While President Trump has a historic opportunity to reform the government and reorganize the executive branch, he must also face harsh political realities. Significant but narrow majorities in the House and Senate (the latter further hampered by the effective 60-vote threshold for passing legislation) will likely thwart Mr. Trump's legislative agenda.
Most of President Trump's America First policies will be accomplished through the executive branch rather than the legislative branch.
Still, I don't have much time. Historically, most of a president's major accomplishments, or the foundations for achieving them, are laid in the first few months of an administration.
Simply put, Mr. Trump has to have the right people in place, and he needs to get them in as quickly as possible. And Vance is working diligently toward that goal.
“As transition co-chair, I am focused on ensuring that President Trump's administration is fully staffed to support America First policies and is ready to hit the ground running on January 20th,” Vance said. It’s extremely important.” statement. “But it's also important to me that we do everything in our power to block the confirmation of more radical judges. So while it may be unconventional for the vice president-elect to get a vote in the Senate during a lame duck period, If my colleagues here in the Senate say we have a real chance of defeating one of these candidates, I'll be up in the sky, and the Earth will be there to vote.”
Trump and Vance transition spokespeople echoed Vance.
“We cannot allow Chuck Schumer to play games with the transition's ability to staff the administration,” transition spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement. “Under no circumstances should we allow a radical leftist judge to pass the Senate at 11 p.m., but we need the vice president-elect to continue the transition ahead of schedule.”
Mr. Vance's focus on government staffing not only reflects those political realities, but is also consistent with his predecessors. In fact, by voting after Election Day, Vance became the first senator in 100 years to vote on a judicial nomination after being elected either president or vice president.
After being elected Vice President in November 2020, Harris was one of Judy Shelton's nominees to the Federal Reserve Board before resigning from the Senate on January 18, 2021. I voted. However, Harris did not vote on any attorney general nominations during this period.
Before Harris, the last senator to vote for a nomination after being elected president or vice president was Alben Berkeley, who voted for Dean Acheson's nomination as secretary of state on January 18, 1949. He was preceded by Harry Truman, who on November 19, 1944, voted in favor of Archibald MacLeish's nomination as assistant secretary of state.
Mr. Vance's adherence to his historic role as senator-turned-vice president will greatly benefit Mr. Trump in ensuring a successful presidency. But if we need his vote, he'll be there in no time.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News' Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
