This Week in the Senate: 6/3/2019

This week, the Senate is holding votes on at least eight nominations, and the Judiciary Committee will convene a nominations hearing and an executive business meeting.

Floor Action:
Monday:

• The Senate will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Andrew Saul to be Commissioner of the Social Security Administration at 5:30 pm. This nomination is still subject to the 30-hour rule due to it being for a position at Level I of the Executive Schedule.

Tuesday:

• The Senate will vote to confirm the Saul nomination, and then will vote to invoke cloture on and confirm the nominations of David Schenker (to be Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs) and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Heath Tarbert (to be a member and chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission).

Wednesday:

• The Senate will vote to invoke cloture on and confirm the nomination of former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs (R) to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Next, there will likely be a series of cloture votes on a few judicial nominees: University of Akron School of Law professor Ryan Holte for the Court of Federal Claims, Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rossie Alston for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, and Covington & Burling attorney Richard Hertling for the Court of Federal Claims. Due to his youth and limited experience before the court, Holte's nomination will not receive many Democratic votes. Alston (who formerly worked at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation) and Hertling (formerly a Bush Administration Justice Department official) are a little less controversial, however, and will enjoy more support from the minority. If confirmed, Alston would be the second African-American federal judge appointed by President Trump. Holte and Hertling would be the first Trump appointees to the Court of Federal Claims, and would put it back on the path to a full bench (11 of its 16 seats are currently vacant, and there are 4 nominees pending before the Senate).

Thursday:

• The Senate will likely vote to confirm the three judicial nominees from Wednesday.

At some point during the week, the Senate might vote on the nomination of Rita Baranwal to be the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy.

On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee will hold a nominations hearing for the following nominees:

Court of Appeals:

1. Peter J. Phipps, to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit

District Court:

1. Charles R. Eskridge III, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas
2. William Shaw Stickman IV, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania
3. Jennifer Philpott Wilson, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

On Thursday, the Judiciary Committee will hold an executive session to vote on and/or hold over the following nominations (the number in the parentheses appearing after the nominee's name signifies whether this is the first or second time appearing on the agenda; first-time appearances are typically held over and nominees appearing for the second time usually receive votes):

District Court / Court of Federal Claims:

1. Ada E. Brown, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas (2)
2. Steven D. Grimberg, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia (2)
3. David John Novak, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia (2)
4. Matthew H. Solomson, to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (2)

Update # 1 (6/6/2019): Executive Business meeting is not occurring this week.