Senate approves committee assignments, tees up confirmation hearings next week

The Senate on Tuesday approved its organizing resolution for the 119th Congress, officially setting the composition of committees and greenlighting nomination hearings to take place in the coming weeks. 

The upper chamber adopted the resolutions, one for the majority and another for the minority, via unanimous consent. The move lays the groundwork for the upcoming two years and sets the number of committee seats for each party during that time. 

More immediately, it allows for committee hearings for President-elect Trump’s nominees to start taking place next week. 

Most committees require a one-week notice for business hearings, meaning that the earliest they could start happening is next Tuesday.

A number of top Trump nominees are expected to come before various panels starting next week, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Pete Hegseth, Brooke Rollins, and former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.).

Others are more in limbo, including Pam Bondi’s nomination to become attorney general due to paperwork issues on the committee’s end, one Senate GOP source said. 

Republicans had initially hoped the organizing resolution would be nailed down on Friday or Monday, but it ended up needing more time to be completed.