Senate advances Trump's spy chief pick as Washington prepares to bury Lindsey Graham and take up his Russia sanctions bill
The Senate voted 51-43 Monday night to advance Jay Clayton's nomination for director of national intelligence, setting up final confirmation Tuesday, while a memorial service for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham and a first vote on the Russia sanctions bill he championed dominate the day. The House has left for its August recess, leaving the Senate as the only chamber in session.
The Senate is the only chamber at work on Capitol Hill this week. The Senate is the only game in town on Capitol Hill for the next two weeks, with the House gone already, having left to begin its August recess while the Senate is scheduled to be in session through August 7.
The day's central legislative action was moving President Trump's choice to lead the U.S. intelligence community toward confirmation. The Senate advanced Monday evening the nomination of Jay Clayton to serve as director of national intelligence; the 51-43 procedural vote fell along party lines, and a final confirmation vote is expected Tuesday night. The position is significant: the post of DNI was created after the September 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the country's sprawling intelligence apparatus. Clayton, currently the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, would replace an acting official many senators disliked. The vote means the Senate could confirm Clayton as early as Tuesday night, booting acting official Bill Pulte from the role.
Democrats, who initially had praised Clayton, turned against him. The party-line vote came after the minority hammered the nominee on his position on the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing earlier this month; Clayton responded to repeated questions by saying that former President Biden "was certified" as president. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, called the performance "bitterly disappointing" and said he could not vote to confirm Clayton despite working well with him during his SEC tenure. Majority Leader John Thune defended the pick, saying "Amid a heightened threat environment, having a proven leader in this role is especially important."
Much of Tuesday centers on honoring the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. A memorial service for Graham is scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, in Washington; he died suddenly in his Washington home on July 11 at age 71. The service is at National Cathedral, and President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are all expected to attend.
Graham's death has revived momentum for a bill he spent more than a year negotiating. Days before his death, Graham had won Trump's support for a long-fought bipartisan proposal to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, one of the strongest U.S. efforts yet to hamper President Vladimir Putin's ability to prolong the conflict. According to the AP, senators said as a tribute to Graham they should quickly approve the Russian sanctions package, and they were scheduled later Tuesday to take a first procedural vote, with Zelensky expected to be on hand and meeting with senators in the evening. The measure has broad backing. With sixty cosponsors, the bipartisan bill has already established a filibuster-proof majority, and it is up to Thune to schedule a vote. The legislation would impose 100% secondary tariffs on countries that continue buying Russian oil and gas. Procedurally, cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5334, the legislative vehicle for the sanctions legislation.
Beyond those headline items, the Senate's week is crowded. The chamber has a full plate during its two-week sprint to August recess, with Thune under pressure from competing factions of his conference and the White House over government funding, reconciliation and the midterms. Looming over it all is a Sept. 30 spending deadline. Focus will largely be on advancing nominations and developing the Senate's version of a continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the end of the fiscal year, after the House passed its own version before leaving town.
Highlights: - The Senate voted 51-43 along party lines Monday to invoke cloture on Jay Clayton, President Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, teeing up a final confirmation vote expected Tuesday night. - A memorial service for former Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died July 11, is set for Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral, with Trump, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Zelensky expected to attend. - Senators are scheduled to take a first procedural vote Tuesday on the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill Graham championed, using H.R. 5334 as the legislative vehicle.