Week ahead: Lawmakers set Mattis up for quick confirmation

All eyes in the coming week will be on President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Friday, and defense watchers will be waiting to see if retired Gen. James Mattis can take his post as Defense secretary the same day.

Defense secretaries are typically among the first nominees confirmed after a president takes office, and Republicans have been pushing for Trump to have his national security team in place as quickly as possible.

Few, if any, roadblocks stand in the way for Mattis’s confirmation after he glided through his confirmation hearing Thursday.

The Senate followed the hearing by easily passing the waiver he needs before he can be confirmed, and the House followed suit Friday.

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Mattis, who retired in 2013, needs the waiver to bypass a law that says Defense secretaries need to be out of uniform for at least seven years.

The White House said Friday that President Obama will sign the bill if it is passed before he leaves office.

Only 17 Senate Democrats voted against the waiver, signaling an easy confirmation vote ahead.

House Democrats, meanwhile, revolted against the waiver after the Trump transition team canceled Mattis’s planned testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, saying it shows Trump’s disregard for Congress.

Still, the waiver could pass the House with Republican support alone.

The confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominees are heading into their second week, with one of particular interest to national security watchers.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 419. http://bit.ly/2ioVuby 

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