Confirming Trump Cabinet nominees during inaugural balls: A Hitchhiker's Guide.

The Senate is likely to experience congestion as the race begins to verify President-elect Trump's cabinet nominees.

Nothing will occur until President-elect Trump assumes office on January 20th.

Numerous Trump supporters will be present at various inaugural events in the city.

After the inauguration celebrations at the Capitol, the Senate will commence its work. Several committees are already preparing to hold "markups" to consider various nominations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a meeting for 3:15 pm et on January 20 to discuss the nomination of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for Secretary of State. It is customary for the Senate to confirm at least a few of Mr. Trump's nominees shortly after he takes the oath of office.

Let history be our guide:

On January 20, 2017, the Senate confirmed Trump's Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. The next confirmation was Elaine Chao, wife of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), to be Transportation Secretary, which occurred on January 31, 2017.

In 2021, President Biden's first nominee to be confirmed by the Senate was Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, who was confirmed on the night of January 20, 2021. The first full cabinet-level vote came on January 22 when the Senate confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

On Monday night, while everyone is busy getting into their tuxedos, the Senate may vote on a nominee or two on January 20th.

The Senate previously confirmed John Ratcliffe as the Director of National Intelligence during the first Trump Administration. He is a known entity in the halls of Congress and served as a Republican congressman from Texas. His hearing is on for tomorrow.

Approving several nominees quickly under an ambitious timetable could be challenging.

The Senate Energy Committee postponed Tuesday's confirmation hearing for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum from Tuesday until Thursday due to delays over paperwork. Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee Doug Collins is not controversial. He is a former GOP congressman from Georgia. However, his confirmation hearing for Tuesday was pushed back until next week. Unlike Collins, Burgum may have been one figure who could have been confirmed quickly.

Maybe next week for Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi? Her hearing is Wednesday and Thursday.

Let's compare the Senate's confirmation of President Biden's nominees with predictions for the new Trump Administration's track record.

The Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense on January 20, 2021, followed by Janet Yellen as Secretary of the Treasury on January 25, and Antony Blinken as Secretary of State on January 26. However, most of the cabinet officials were not confirmed until February or March. The Senate confirmed Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior on March 15, 2021, Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services on March 18, and Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor on March 22, 2021.

You get the idea.

Nominees may face hearings, committee rules, and floor debate before being confirmed.

If Democrats filibuster a nominee, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) may need to employ a procedural gambit to break the filibuster. The process of initiating a procedural vote to break a filibuster consumes three days alone. If the nominee's opponents persist, it's possible that senators could prolong the debate on the nominee for days, even though the Senate has already broken the filibuster.

In February 2017, Mike Pence was the first Vice President to break a tie to confirm a cabinet official, specifically Betsy DeVos as the former Education Secretary.

The Senate has limited time to take procedural votes for nominees, as seen in the case of Betsy DeVos's nomination in February 2017, which was taken at 7 am, and Tom Price's confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary, which occurred around 2 am.

The Senate must confirm more than 800 positions before we can move on to other important nominations, such as Pete Hoekstra for Ambassador to Canada and Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel.

The Senate could expedite the confirmation process by approving a batch of non-contentious nominees as a group. This would involve the Senate clearing all objections on both sides and confirming the nominees en masse.

The process of confirming various positions in the Trump administration is expected to take several months, consuming valuable floor time in the Senate. This comes at a time when the Senate is also trying to resolve a time agreement and amendments for the Laken Riley Act and a bill imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court for its arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The task of resolving this issue is likely to require significant effort and may involve sacrificing some early mornings, late nights, and weekend time.