Senate confirms two more nominees

The Senate confirmed two of President Obama’s executive nominees on Tuesday — only 20 more to go.

The Senate voice-vote confirmed both Daniel Santos to be a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and Frank Rose to be an Assistant Secretary of State.

{mosads}They are two on a list of 23 nominations Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he wants to confirm before the Senate can adjourn for the year. On Monday, the Senate confirmed Dr. Vivek Murthy to be Surgeon General.

On Saturday, the Senate spent nine hours setting up votes for 23 of Obama’s nominees — 12 judicial and 11 executive nominations. The Senate is currently working through the list of executive nominees with the hope that Republicans will yield back time and expedite the votes. The Senate is expected to confirm two more nominations by the end of Tuesday.

“We’re going to have to be here until we finish our work,” Reid said on the Senate floor Monday. “Whether that’s Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday.”

In addition to clearing all the nominations, Reid has said he wants to complete work on a package of tax breaks and potentially the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which provides businesses a government backstop in the event of a terrorist attack.