Nebraska Panhandle News

Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts from Nebraska highlighted the progress made in confirming President Trump's Cabinet nominees. During a conference call with Nebraska media, Ricketts emphasized the swift pace of confirmations.

"We are quickly confirming President Trump’s Cabinet," Ricketts stated. "In the first two weeks of the administration, we confirmed nine Cabinet officials. Eight of those votes were bipartisan. That’s 50% more than were confirmed in the first two weeks of the [first] Trump administration or the Biden administration for that matter. We’ve accomplished that while overcoming historic Democratic obstruction."

Ricketts expressed determination to continue this process: "Americans deserve a president empowered to do the job they elected him to do," he concluded. "We’re going to keep doing what it takes to get President Trump’s qualified nominees confirmed. We’re not going to stop until we get the job done."

During his remarks, Ricketts detailed several key confirmations: Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, John Ratcliffe as CIA Director, Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, and Scott Bessent as Secretary of Treasury—all receiving bipartisan support.

Further nominations included Lee Zeldin as EPA Administrator and Doug Burgum as Secretary of Interior, both confirmed with significant bipartisan votes. Chris Wright was confirmed as Secretary of Energy and Sean Duffy as Secretary of Transportation.

Ricketts criticized Democrats for their approach during these confirmations: "Democrats have refused to speed up the process to allow President Trump to get his Cabinet," he said. He noted that Democrats insisted on cloture votes for every nominee except Marco Rubio despite most nominees receiving bipartisan backing.

"Under President Bush and President Obama, not a single Cabinet nominee had to endure a cloture vote – or a vote to end debate," Ricketts pointed out. He described this insistence on additional votes by Democrats as an "unserious approach."

Ricketts reaffirmed his commitment: "We’re going to keep doing what it takes to get President Trump’s qualified nominees confirmed."