Senate looks to advance Trump energy, environment nominees

By Marc Heller, Manuel Quiñones, Kevin Bogardus | 01/21/2025 06:42 AM EST

The Senate was able to give President Donald Trump only one Cabinet member on his first day: Marco Rubio.

Doug Burgum and other Cabinet nominees pose.

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, nominee for Interior secretary, posing with other Cabinet nominee in Washington on Saturday. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Senate Republicans will try to fill out more of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet this week after only being able to confirm Marco Rubio for secretary of State.

EPA nominee Lee Zeldin, Interior pick Doug Burgum, Department of Energy nominee Chris Wright and Agriculture pick Brooke Rollins are among those seeing committee action in the coming days ahead of floor debate.

Democrats on Monday evening agreed to speed up consideration for Rubio, the former Florida senator, but won’t do the same for contentious picks like Defense nominee Pete Hegseth. The vote for Rubio was unanimous.

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“Our priority here in the Senate for the next few weeks is getting President Trump’s nominations confirmed so he has his team,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

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