Two more of Trump's nominees will be questioned by senators on Tuesday, and a third, Treasury nominee Scott Bessent, will be voted on by committees.
Former Rep. Doug Collins, an Air Force Reserve chaplain, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee seeking confirmation to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. And Representative Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.) is scheduled to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as President Trump's nominee for the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee will convene at 10:15 a.m. to vote on whether to move forward with Bessent's nomination as Treasury Secretary.
Collins will be the first cabinet nominee to receive a hearing after Trump's tumultuous first day in office. After announcing in his inaugural address that America's Golden Age had begun, the president quickly took more than 200 executive actions Monday to make his policy vision a reality. It is the Senate's job to approve key officials who carry out President Trump's orders.
Marco Rubio has been confirmed by the Senate as the next Secretary of State, making him the first Cabinet nominee to be approved by President Trump.
Former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins has been nominated by President Trump to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida became the first of President Trump's Cabinet nominees to win Congressional approval late Monday in a unanimous vote of the Senate. His confirmation was not surprising, as many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle praised his strong foreign policy career as a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.
Collins is similarly not expected to face a difficult confirmation battle. As Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the former Georgia congressman and Navy veteran will be tasked with overseeing the nation's struggling health care and benefits system for veterans. Long wait times to see a health care provider, lack of access to community care, inadequate mental health support, and budget shortfalls are among the many issues that have plagued secretaries in both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past. It's just a small part of it.
report Published by the Veterans Administration According to last month's statistics, more than 6,400 veterans will die by suicide in 2022, which is lower than the 12 in 2014 but slightly higher than in 2021. Eliminating veteran suicide was a top priority for the Biden administration. The Veterans Administration said in November that veteran homelessness had fallen to an all-time low under President Biden, although more than 32,000 veterans remained on the streets from January 2023 to January 2024. Announced.
Under President Trump's direction, the next VA secretary will be tasked with gutting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the department and ending Biden-era policies that provide abortion and transgender medical care. is also likely to be imposed.
Hundreds of veterans descend on D.C. to march in support of Pete Hegseth's confirmation
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) said he supports Rep. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.) to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (@EliseStefanik from X)
Collins was scheduled to have a confirmation hearing last week, but an incomplete background check delayed the process.
The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will convene to question Collins at 10 a.m., while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will meet elsewhere in the Dirksen Senate Building to consider Stefanik's nomination as U.S. representative to the United Nations. It's planned.
Stefanik, the No. 4 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, could face questions over his relative lack of foreign policy experience, staunch support for Israel and his views on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Highly sexual.
“President Trump has high hopes for the United Nations as it focuses on its founding mission of international peace and security,” Stefanik said in his opening remarks, quoting excerpts from the opening remarks. war. ”
Stefanik plans to promote President Trump's 'America First' agenda at the UN, ensuring it is 'in our interests'
U.S. investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent testifies during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination for Secretary of the Treasury on January 16, 2025 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. (Andrew Caballero Reynolds/AFP)
Stefanik is expected to set sail to seek approval for the UN role. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has already said he will vote for her, and both are strong supporters of Israel. She has served on the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, but when she asked questions about university presidents and policies surrounding pro-Gaza protests during a Board of Education hearing last year, her work on the other side of the table was cut short. It became a hot topic.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on whether to nominate Wall Street investor and hedge fund manager Bessent to head the Treasury Department.
Bessent said during his confirmation hearing that the United States needs to extend the 2017 tax cuts signed by President Trump during his first term.
“This is the most important economic issue of our time,” Bessent told senators. “This is pass or fail. If we don't fix the tax cuts, if we don't renew them, if we don't extend them, we're going to face economic disaster, and as always, the middle class and the working class… We will face financial instability.”
Democrats pressed Bessent on the impact of President Trump's tax cuts on the federal deficit and whether they unfairly benefited the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class. They also asked whether Trump's proposed tariffs on foreign imports would increase inflation, which Bessent insisted would not.
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The Treasury Department nominee from South Carolina emphasized that President Trump's policies prioritize Main Street over Wall Street.
“Wall Street has done a great job over the last few years, but I think Main Street is struggling. I think this is Main Street's time,” Bessent said.
Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
