Senate advances three judicial nominees

The Senate voted to end debate on three of President Obama’s judicial nominees.

Cloture was invoked on the nomination of Mark Mastroianni to be a U.S. district judge for Massachusetts on a 56-39 vote Tuesday. 

{mosads}The Senate also voted 59-35 to end debate on the nomination of Bruce Hendricks to be a U.S. circuit judge for South Carolina and 54-40 on the nomination of Tanya Chutkan to be a U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia.

The Senate will vote to confirm all three around 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

After their confirmation votes, the Senate will proceed to vote on whether to end debate on the nomination of Sylvia Burwell to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate confirmed by voice-vote two more people to serve as commissioners on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Timothy Massad will serve as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while J. Christopher Giancarlo will be a commissioner of the CFTC. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate voted 48-46 to confirm Sharon Bowen to the commission.