Senate advances Coats as national intel chief

The Senate on Wednesday voted to move forward with former Sen. Dan Coats’s (R-Ind.) nomination to serve as President Trump’s director of national intelligence.

Senators voted 88-11 to end debate on his nomination, with only a simple majority needed to move forward.

With the Senate expected to leave town Wednesday, Democrats could use the Senate’s rulebook to delay a final vote until next week.

But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is signaling that he expects Coats to get a confirmation vote later Wednesday. 

{mosads}”We’re going to wrap up three items here in the Senate during this short week. We’re going to do another Congressional Review Act,” McConnell told reporters during a weekly press conference. “We’re going to confirm Dan Coats and we’re going to deal with General McMaster’s promotion.”

Coats is well liked by his former colleagues and is expected to sail through a final vote. The Senate Intelligence Committee voted late last week to send his nomination to the floor, with only two senators voting against him. 

McConnell praised Coats ahead of the vote, calling him an “excellent choice.” 

“A few short months ago our colleague, Dan Coats, retired from his post here in the Senate. At that time I had a chance to reflect on our friend’s impressive career and I noted that we could expect him to rise to the occasion if called to serve his country once again,” he added. 

Trump nominated the former GOP senator, who retired at the end of 2016, for the post in January, giving him control of the intelligence community’s 16 agencies if confirmed. 

His confirmation hearing was largely drama-free, though some lawmakers questioned if he was too nice for the role and if he could break through Trump’s tight circle of advisers. 

Coats pledged during the hearing that he would push back against Trump if needed and had been reassured that he would be “welcome and needed” as part of the White House National Security Council’s Principals Committee. 

“I have been reassured time and time and time again by the president and his advisers that I am welcome and needed and expected to be part of the Principals Committee,” Coats said during his hearing.

Trump reshuffled the Principals Committee of the National Security Council earlier this year. Under that order, Coats would only attend meetings when issues pertinent to his responsibilities are discussed.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the sole Republican to oppose Coats. Other no votes were by Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) was not present at the vote.