We’re just two weeks away from the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump — for the second time. The 119th Congress has been sworn in and Senate confirmation hearings are set to begin January 14, with Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
Trump’s nominees have already faced a significant amount of scrutiny (#BecauseTrump), so I thought it might be interesting to compare how President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees were treated by the Senate (then-controlled by his own party 50-48, plus two Independents who largely caucused with the Democrats) to how Trump’s were (and ultimately, will be).
The first thing to note is that all but two of Biden’s nominees were confirmed. Neera Tanden’s nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget was withdrawn on March 2, 2021, after significant opposition was raised during the…
