WASHINGTON – President Biden’s office took steps towards late completion on Tuesday, with confirmation from a United Nations ambassador and a secretary of agriculture, but other important positions remained blocked in party confirmation hearings.
The rush to question potential cabinet officials led to overlapping hearings throughout the morning, while Democrats worked to occupy important positions that most of Biden’s predecessors had held much earlier in their first terms.
The Senate voted to confirm Linda Thomas-Greenfield as a UN ambassador and Thomas J. Vilsack as secretary of agriculture. Both Ms. Thomas-Greenfield and Mr. Vilsack were confirmed by comfortable margins, with Mr. Vilsack freeing 92 to 7 to become secretary of agriculture for the second time.
Earlier in the day, the Senate Judiciary Committee closed a second day of questioning to Biden’s appointed attorney general, Merrick B. Garland. Garland’s audience was again predominantly civil and direct, with members of both parties continuing to adopt the same deferential tone they set when praising their qualifications on Monday.
The atmosphere was less relaxed in other committee rooms.
New Mexico’s deputy Deb Haaland, chosen by Biden as secretary of the interior, faced a litany of questions about the fierce stance she has taken against fossil fuels in the past, particularly by state senators who still depend on the extraction of fossil fuels.
Among them was Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who resisted efforts to reduce coal production in his state and whose vote could be crucial to Haaland’s chances of confirmation. .
Democrats emphasized the historical nature of his nomination – one that Manchin recognized. If confirmed, Ms. Haaland would be the first Native American to lead a cabinet-level department, in this case the Department of the Interior, which has abused and neglected Native Americans throughout much of the country’s history.
The New Washington
Ms. Haaland sought to minimize her past activism, promising to follow the political priorities of the Biden government.
“If I am confirmed as secretary, it is President Biden’s agenda, not my own, that I would advance,” she said.
She will appear before the committee for the second day on Wednesday.
Tuesday also marked the first of two challenging confirmation hearings for Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general and Biden’s nominee for secretary of health and human services.
In contentious inquiries, Republican members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee sought to portray Becerra, who has little public health experience, as unskilled, while painting his views on abortion and health as radicals.
Becerra, who will lead a broader vaccination effort against the coronavirus if confirmed, said he sought to focus on the country’s most immediate challenges stemming from the pandemic and find opportunities to compromise more politicized health policies.
“When I come to these issues, I understand that we cannot always agree on where to go,” he said, “but I think we can find common ground.”
Becerra will face another round of questions from the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Finance Committee also convened a confirmation hearing for Adewale O. Adeyemo, Biden’s choice to serve as assistant secretary of the Treasury.
The steady pace of hearings helped make up for the lost time of senators who spent six days this month fully focused on the impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump.
It also paved the way for senators to consider even more nominated this week. On Wednesday, the senators will accept the appointment of William J. Burns to head the Central Intelligence Agency and, on Thursday, they will use the nomination of Katherine C. Tai to serve as the United States trade representative.