If the Senate maintains the pace it has set this week in confirming President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be secretary of energy before the weekend.
Perry is one of six nominees for whom Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) began confirmation proceedings on the Senate floor last month. On Wednesday morning, senators voted to end floor debate on the nominee in line before Perry: Housing and Urban Development Secretary-designate Benjamin Carson.
With that bit of parliamentary procedure out of the way, Carson could get a confirmation vote as early as this morning. Assuming the Senate sticks to a similar schedule for Perry and votes to end debate on his nomination this morning, a Friday morning confirmation vote is not out of the question. In the early days of the new Trump administration, senators have often worked long hours and taken votes on Fridays to install Cabinet officials at their agencies.
A McConnell spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment Wednesday.
Perry’s nomination has not been particularly controversial so far. Some Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Committee opposed his appointment, but the panel ultimately mustered a bipartisan vote to send the former governor onward to the floor.
