Alexander, the HELP committee chairman, said in a statement that the panel still plans to vote on DeVos’ confirmation on January 24, which would set her up for a final vote on the Senate floor in the first weeks of Trump’s presidency. Republicans have prioritized confirming the president-elect’s national-security team by the time he is inaugurated on January 20. Democrats could use procedural tactics to disrupt that schedule, but they do not have the votes to block Trump nominees without Republican defections. “Betsy DeVos is an outstanding nominee who has complied with all of the committee’s requirements and no one doubts that she will be confirmed as education secretary,” a Senate GOP aide said late Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. An aide to Senator Murray said the Democrat “is hopeful that this additional time will allow Ms. DeVos to complete the required ethics paperwork in time for the Office of Government Ethics to submit it to the HELP Committee before her hearing.”

Even with the delay in DeVos’ hearing, as many as three top Cabinet picks will receive confirmation hearings this week without having completed financial disclosure reports and ethics agreements. In pushing ahead, Republican leaders are brushing aside a warning from the director of the independent Office of Government Ethics that their aggressive hearing schedule is “cause for alarm.”

Senate committees have scheduled confirmation hearings for seven nominees over a three-day period beginning Tuesday. As of Monday night, DeVos was one of four scheduled for this week who did not have signed ethics agreements. The others are retired General John Kelly, the nominee for homeland security secretary; Ben Carson, the nominee to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Wilbur Ross, the nominee for commerce secretary.

The nominees are behind schedule because the Trump transition did not follow the usual practice of pre-clearing the president-elect’s choices for potential ethical conflicts or security issues before sending their names to the Senate. As a result, the relatively small federal agency charged with reviewing their financial portfolios has been overwhelmed—in part because so many of the nominees are wealthy executives with vast holdings they may need to divest or unwind.

“The announced hearing schedule for several nominees who have not

completed the ethics review process is of great concern to me,” wrote Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, in a letter to senators late last week. “This schedule has created undue pressure on OGE's staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews.”

He added: “I am not aware of any occasion in the four decades since OGE was established when the Senate held a confirmation hearing before the

nominee had completed the ethics review process.”