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Two more President Trump’s nominees will face questions from senators on Tuesday, while a third, Treasury Department nominee Scott Bessent, will get a committee vote.
Former Rep. Doug Collins, an Air Force Reserve chaplain, will testify before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee as he seeks confirmation to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rep. Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Trump’s nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The Senate Finance Committee, meanwhile, will meet at 10:15 a.m. to vote on whether to advance Bessent’s nomination for Treasury Secretary.
Collins will be the first potential government official to be heard after Trump’s whirlwind first day in office. After announcing in his inaugural address that “America’s golden age” had begun, the president on Monday quickly took more than 200 executive actions to see his policy vision come to life. The Senate has yet to confirm key officials who will carry out Trump’s orders.
Former Georgia Rep. Doug Collins is Trump’s nominee for VA secretary. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio became the first of Trump’s cabinet members to win congressional approval late Monday with a unanimous Senate vote. His confirmation was not surprising, as many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle praised his strong foreign policy experience as a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.
Collins is also not expected to face an uphill confirmation battle. A former Georgia congressman and Navy veteran, as Secretary of the VA would be charged with overseeing the beleaguered health care and benefits system for the nation’s veterans. Long wait times to see providers, lack of access to care in the community, inadequate mental health support and budget shortfalls are just a few of the many problems that have plagued secretaries in both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past.
report published by VA last month showed there were more than 6,400 suicides among veterans in 2022, down from 12 of the 14 previous years but up slightly from 2021. Stopping veteran suicides has been a top priority for the Biden administration. In November, the VA announced that veteran homelessness fell to the lowest number on record under President Biden, although more than 32,000 veterans remained on the streets between January 2023 and January 2024.
Under Trump’s leadership, the next VA secretary will likely also be tasked with rooting out the department’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, as well as ending Biden-era policies that allowed abortions and transgender medical procedures.
HUNDREDS OF VETERANS TO DESCENT IN DC TO MARCH IN SUPPORT OF PETE HEGSETH’S CONFIRMATION
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., said he will support Rep. Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (@EliseStefanik on X)
Collins was scheduled to receive a confirmation hearing last week, but an incomplete background check delayed the process.
While the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee meets to question Collins at 10 a.m., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will meet elsewhere in the Dirksen Senate Building to consider Stefanik’s nomination to represent the US at the UN.
Stefanik, the fourth-ranking Republican in the US House of Representatives, is likely to face questions about her relative lack of foreign policy experience and staunch support for Israel, as well as her views on the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In his opening remarks, excerpts of which were obtained by Fox News Digital, Stefanik will say that Trump sees great promise in the UN “if he focuses on his core mission of international peace and security. President Trump has long advocated for peace and no more wars.” ”
American investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent testifies before the Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination for Treasury Secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 16, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
Stefanik is expected to sail until the UN’s role is confirmed. Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, has already said he will vote for her – both are strong supporters of Israel. She has served on the intelligence and armed services committees, but went viral last year for her work on the other side of the table when she questioned university presidents and their policies protests for Gaza during a Board of Education hearing.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee will vote on whether to advance the nomination of Bessent, a Wall Street investor and hedge fund manager, to lead the Treasury Department.
During his confirmation hearing, Bessent said the US must extend the 2017 tax cuts Trump signed into law in his first term.
“This is the most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent told senators. “This is pass-fail. If we don’t fix these tax cuts, if we don’t renew and extend them, then we’re going to face economic disaster, and as always, financial instability that falls on the middle and working class.”
Democrats pressed Bessent about the impact Trump’s tax cuts have had on the federal deficit and whether they disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class. They also asked whether Trump’s proposed tariffs on foreign imports would increase inflation, but Bessent insisted they would not.
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The finance candidate, who hails from South Carolina, emphasized that Trump’s policies will favor Main Street over Wall Street.
“I believe Wall Street has been great over the past few years and Main Street has suffered. I think it’s time for Main Street,” Bessent said.
Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
