Senate Reaches Deal On CIA Nominee After First Trump-Era Scuffle

UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 22: Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., attends a House Select Committee on Benghazi in Longworth Building featuring testimony by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, October 22 2015. The 2012 att... UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 22: Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., attends a House Select Committee on Benghazi in Longworth Building featuring testimony by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, October 22 2015. The 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, took the lives of four Americans including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Senate leaders came to a deal late Friday afternoon over how to proceed on Rep. Mike Pompeo’s (R-KS) confirmation vote to CIA director after a disagreement that threatened to drag out the debate well into the evening’s Inauguration Day festivities. The Senate went forward with a procedural vote to begin the debate on his confirmation, but will hold the vote on the confirmation itself on Monday.

Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other GOP leaders had previously threatened to keep the Senate in session all night to get Pompeo confirmed Friday. Senate Democrats had sought to delay the vote over concerns that the nominee had not adequately answered the questions they had posed him during the confirmation process.

“So, look, I’m told we want to have some debate about this. We’ll have as much time starting right now as our Democratic colleagues would like, but at the end of the debate, today, not Monday, we should install a new CIA director,” McConnell said.

The Senate was already set to confirm defense secretary nominee James Mattis and Department of Homeland Security Secretary nominee John Kelly.

Democrats have objected to pushing through Pompeo as well because they say he has not answered questions they have posed to him during the confirmation process, and they want to have a fuller debate on the national security issues at play.

“So that’s what this is all about, is ensuring that we actually have some discussion here when there are outstanding questions,” Sen. Ron Wyden (R-OR), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said on the Senate floor Friday.

“That’s why I think we ought to have a debate in broad daylight, not when senators are trying to figure out if their tux is going to fit and we can’t get people into a real discussion,” Wyden added.

According to CNN, exacerbating the fight was GOP allegations that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) broke a promise to hold Pompeo’s vote on Inauguration Day in exchange for moving the day of his confirmation hearing. That claim was rebuked by a a senior Senate Democratic aide in the CNN report.

This story has been updated.

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