The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is pressing forward with a vote on CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s nomination to be secretary of State — even as he appears to be short of the votes to clear the panel.
Chairman Bob Corker’s (R-Tenn.) office announced that the committee would take a vote on Pompeo’s nomination early Monday evening.
{mosads}Corker separately shot down a question about whether he would try to move Pompeo to the Senate floor without a vote.
“I haven’t considered that at all,” he said.
But Pompeo appears short of the votes to get a favorable recommendation from the committee.
Republicans hold a one-seat advantage on the panel, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said he will oppose the former Kansas congressman.
Only one Democrat on the committee, Sen. Christopher Coons (Del.), hasn’t said how he will vote. He previously opposed Pompeo to be CIA director and has said he’s leaning against his current nomination.
Moving Pompeo to the full Senate even if he isn’t able to win over the support of a majority of the committee marks an unusual step.
According to the Senate Historian’s Office, senators have only used such a move successfully on a Cabinet nominee once before: In 1945, when President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Henry Wallace to be secretary of Commerce.
With Paul opposed and GOP Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) absent for cancer treatment, Pompeo would need the support of every remaining Republican and at least one Democrat to be confirmed by the Senate. So far, no Democratic senator has come out in his favor.