Sen. Chuck Schumer (right) and his Democratic Caucus had been threatening to delay Trump’s Cabinet confirmations. | AP Photo Schumer, McConnell talks ease confirmation standoff Democrats had been threatening to delay Trump's Cabinet picks — but private talks pave the way for national security picks.

Private negotiations between Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer are making it increasingly likely that President-elect Donald Trump will have a bloc of his Cabinet selections confirmed on Inauguration Day, according to lawmakers and aides.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his Democratic Caucus had been threatening to delay Trump’s Cabinet confirmations, turning the process into a painful procedural grind after several nominees failed to complete ethics disclosures and Republicans initially packed tomorrow's schedule with six confirmation hearings — alongside Trump’s first news conference in six months.


But in a week’s time, amid ongoing talks, the number of hearings scheduled for Wednesday has been slashed to three after Schumer complained to McConnell that his members would have difficulty attending several high-profile meetings on the same day. McConnell responded by rearranging the schedule, and now Democrats are warming to Republican hopes of confirming much of Trump’s national security team on Inauguration Day.

Democrats aren’t giving back their procedural leverage just yet, with several of Trump’s nominees still lacking finalized ethics disclosures ahead of confirmation hearings this week. But they said they were open to quick votes on some nominees if McConnell and the Trump transition keep making progress.

“If they file the papers, we have fulsome hearings on a timely basis and don’t stack them on top of one another I think it leads to opportunities for votes on the cabinet at an earlier time,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

The Senate will vote on giving Trump's pick to head the Pentagon — James Mattis — a waiver to serve as defense secretary as soon as Thursday and are hoping that Mattis, CIA director hopeful Mike Pompeo and homeland security pick John Kelly can win floor votes on Inauguration Day, Republican sources said. The GOP also wants Rex Tillerson installed as secretary of state that day, but that may depend on how his hearings go on Wednesday.

“The national security team, we hope to get most of it if not all of it in place on day one,” McConnell said on Tuesday.

Schumer signaled openness to that, noting that Mattis, Kelly and Pompeo are not on his party’s target list of problematic appointees. And the transaction between Schumer, who is new to his role, and McConnell showed that the two leaders are looking to craft pragmatic deals that benefit both parties.

In this case, Trump is likely to get more of his nominees confirmed than would have been possible with a jammed hearing schedule. And Schumer is able to tout McConnell’s flexibility as evidence that Democrats’ willingness to drag out the confirmation process for some of Trump’s nominees has borne fruit.

“I’ve worked with Chuck since I’ve been in the Senate. And Mitch has always been one that’s willing to accommodate as long as there’s a reciprocal. And Chuck understands reciprocity,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).

The key appears to have been moving Betsy DeVos' confirmation hearing for education secretary to next week. She's one of Democrats’ least favorite nominations, and DeVos’s ethics review was unlikely to be completed in time for the Wednesday hearing, Democrats said. Department of Homeland Security pick John Kelly’s hearing was moved to Tuesday and CIA selection Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) was bumped to Thursday.

That leaves hearings for Jeff Sessions to be attorney general and Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state on Wednesday, along with Elaine Chao to be transportation secretary, who may also win quick confirmation, given that she's McConnell’s wife and a favorite of Republicans and Democrats alike.

And despite the procedural deal, Schumer and McConnell are publicly keeping their distance. The Democratic leader attacked Tillerson for doing business with Iran and declining to rule out further roadblocks. McConnell insisted his party had only “slightly” altered things.

But it’s a significant departure from just a couple days ago, when a procedural war was escalating between the two party leaders. Schumer blasted out the Office of Government Ethics’ criticisms of the GOP and Trump's transition team for lack of ethics disclosures, which McConnell dismissed on Sunday as “little procedural complaints” and sore loserdom from the election. Then on Monday Schumer took an old letter from McConnell to Reid making demands of Obama’s nominees, crossing out the Republican’s name, putting on his own and sending it back to the GOP leader.

“It takes a lot of nerve to tell us that we’re being obstructionist by asking for a government ethics report before hearings when they wouldn't even have a hearing on a Supreme Court nominee,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

But late Monday, the DeVos hearing was delayed, followed by Kelly. Republicans are hopeful the accommodation will open up Trump’s nominees for swift confirmation, though they are still wary that individual liberal senators could disrupt things. Any single senator can object to attempts to schedule quick votes in the Senate and the Democratic base is pressuring Schumer to fight Trump and McConnell tooth and nail.

“Sen. Schumer is a pretty pragmatic guy in my experience,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). “My question is how much his conference is going to allow him to work cooperatively with our side.”

Regardless of how the deal on confirmation votes shapes up, Trump won’t get the same treatment that President Barack Obama received. In 2009 immediately after being sworn in, seven of his prominent nominees were confirmed without dissent. But that number is out of reach as conflict between the OGE and the Trump transition combined with increasing partisanship in the nomination process has made it more likely that only Kelly, Mattis, Chao and Pompeo have a real shot at quick approval.