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The Senate has scheduled hearings for a dozen of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominees for some of the most important positions in his new administration.
Many of these candidates have already visited Capitol Hill to meet with individual senators whose support they may need in the final confirmation vote. They will now appear before Senate committees that oversee the agencies they were chosen to lead.
Here is the schedule for this week:
Tuesday
9:30 a.m.: Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense
Pete Hegseth, a Fox News anchor and veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, began his confirmation hearings on Tuesday. He has had a torturous road to his hearing, battling allegations of heavy drinking and allegations of sexual abuse that critics have used to question his ability to lead the Defense Department, one of the most important posts in the federal government. The senators are Mr. Hegseth discussed many of those allegations during a tense, four-hour hearing Tuesday.
Wednesday
9 a.m.: Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is a loyal ally of Mr. Trump, who promised to fulfill the president-elect’s promises of stricter border controls and mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants if he is confirmed to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Noem previously used her authority as governor to intervene in the nation’s immigration crisis, spending millions of taxpayer dollars to deploy the South Dakota National Guard to the US-Mexico border.
9:30 am: Pam Bondi, Attorney General
Pam Bondi, a lobbyist and longtime loyalist of Mr. Trump, made a name for herself in Florida politics as the first female attorney general. After she supported Mr. Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, Ms. Bondi joined the legal team of Mr. Trump during his first impeachment in 2019, and later supported the fabricated claims of Mr. Trump on election fraud after his defeat by Joseph R. Biden Jr. election in 2020. As attorney general, Ms. Bondi would oversee the Justice Department and its cadre of federal prosecutors.
10:00: Sean Duffy, Transport Minister
Former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, a former Fox Business television host, served in Congress from 2011 to 2019 before stepping aside to care for his newborn daughter with a birth defect. Mr Duffy, who originally rose to fame on reality TV, will oversee the nation’s railways, airlines and transport infrastructure if confirmed to lead the Department for Transport.
10:00: John Ratcliffe, director of the CIA
John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who previously served as Mr. Trump’s director of national intelligence, will be tasked with leading one of the government’s most prestigious and capable intelligence agencies. The position would also give Mr Ratcliffe a position of influence in matters of national intelligence. As a congressman, Mr. Ratcliffe worked to enhance his credentials as a Trump loyalist by helping to conduct investigations into President Biden’s son Hunter.
10:00: Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is a former political rival of Mr. Trump who has become a key foreign policy adviser. Mr. Rubio, once a leading candidate to challenge Mr. To Trump last year, he is a foreign policy hawk who has taken a hardline approach to China — a stance that is likely to influence his leadership of America’s diplomatic efforts abroad.
10:00: Chris Wright, Minister for Energy
Chris Wright, CEO of the Denver-based natural gas company, has used television and other media appearances to evangelize the fossil fuel industry. The Department of Energy is primarily charged with ensuring the safety of the country’s nuclear arsenal, but under President Biden the agency has also helped lead the energy transition from fossil fuels to wind, solar and nuclear power.
1:00 p.m.: Russell T. Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget
Russell T. Vought, a key figure in the conservative political agenda of Project 2025, led the Office of Management and Budget in Mr. Trump, and he was re-elected to do it. Mr. Vought, if confirmed, will oversee the White House budget and help determine whether federal agencies are complying with the president’s policies.
Thursday
10:00am: Scott Turner, Minister of Housing and Urban Development
Scott Turner, a former football player who served as a mid-level official in the first Trump administration, has been elevated as Mr. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mr. Turner, who had a nine-year career in the NFL and also worked as a motivational speaker, is one of the few blacks selected to fill a senior position in the administration.
10 a.m.: Lee Zeldin, manager of the Environmental Protection Agency
Former representative Lee Zeldin from New York, who unsuccessfully ran for governor of the state in 2022, Mr. Trump has chosen to follow through on his promises to roll back significant climate regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Zeldin is an avid Trump supporter who voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
10:00: Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum amassed a billion dollar fortune in the tech industry before running for governor of his home state. Mr. Burgum, who has long-standing ties to fossil fuel companies and acted as a liaison between the Trump campaign and oil executives who donated heavily to it, will be in charge of managing vast tracts of federal land and coastal waters at the Interior Department — as well as lease of these lands for oil and gas drilling.
10:30 a.m.: Scott Bessent, Minister of Finance
Scott Bessent is a billionaire hedge fund manager who served as a central economic adviser to Mr. Trump as the president-elect crafted a campaign agenda aimed at raising tariffs on imported goods. Mr. Bessent, who will oversee some of America’s most powerful economic levers at the Treasury Department, has called for ending government subsidies, deregulating the economy and increasing domestic energy production.
