Sen. John McCain’s decision to skip the vote is not expected to affect the outcome. | Getty McCain to skip Pruitt confirmation vote

Sen. John McCain is determined to get to an annual national security conference in Germany on time — even if it means skipping an important confirmation vote and having to book himself his own flight.

McCain had planned to depart with 11 other senators and four House members on a military plane in time for the Arizona Republican to take part in a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference on Friday evening.


But the military plane is being delayed to allow the senators to stick around for a vote Friday afternoon to confirm Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. That decision came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a plea for the senators to stay.

McCain said in an interview that he decided to jump on a different flight leaving Thursday night after learning the military plane's departure would be delayed.

“I have been going to this conference for 40 years, and I told them months ago that I was going,” said McCain, who is leading the congressional delegation.

“I have a speech to give tomorrow at the conference that I was committed,” said McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Everybody else is going after the vote.”

McCain’s decision to skip the vote is not expected to affect the outcome. Only one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, has said she will vote against Pruitt, leaving Republicans with 50 votes given McCain’s expected absence.

They will be joined by two red-state Democrats: Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, both of whom are up for re-election in 2018.

Manchin and Heitkamp joined Republicans to advance Pruitt’s nomination on the floor, and attended President Donald Trump’s Thursday signing ceremony of a bill killing an Obama-era coal mining regulation.

The Munich Security Conference is one of the largest gatherings of national security leaders in the world.

Participants this year will include Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and more than 30 heads of state, according to the conference website.