Senate OKs health and human services, transportation chiefs

Panel delays vote on Ashcroft

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate on Wednesday confirmed two members of President Bush's Cabinet: Tommy Thompson as secretary of health and human services and Norman Mineta as transportation secretary.

VIDEO Watch Bush's speech at the swearing-in of the education secretary Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Earlier Wednesday, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to send the nomination of Gale Norton as interior secretary to the full Senate. The vote was 18-2.

Barring any new, serious revelations, Norton's confirmation by the full Senate is all but assured.

In other Cabinet-related developments Wednesday:

  • Democrats delayed a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on John Ashcroft's nomination as attorney general, saying they had more questions for the nominee.

  • The Senate was expected to vote on Elaine Chao for labor secretary.

  • Senators also could vote on Christine Todd Whitman's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Before the vote on Norton, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico, said he would vote to approve her nomination despite his reservations.

Bingaman, ranking Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voted yes on Norton despite expressing his concern about her record on environmental issues.

As the committee's top Democrat, Bingaman's vote paved the way for other Democrats to vote for Norton to be confirmed.

Ashcroft has faced the rockiest road to confirmation among President Bush's Cabinet nominees.

Democrats now want written answers to at least 126 questions from Ashcroft before the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on recommending him to join the Cabinet.

The panel's top Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, notified Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that he will make use of a rule enabling any senator to postpone voting for one week, Leahy's spokesman, David Carle, said Tuesday.

"In addition to the record not being complete, the committee usually considers it important to have sufficient time to review and understand the record," Carle said.

Hatch had scheduled a meeting for Wednesday with the intent of voting to send Ashcroft's nomination to the full Senate.

Bush, in a Wednesday morning meeting with the bipartisan congressional leadership, seemed unconcerned about the Democrats' delay. "I think they're making sure that when they confirm him, all questions have been answered," the president said.

Leahy and other Senate Democrats were reluctant to proceed on Ashcroft's nomination because they were awaiting documents and answers to written questions, many of which were not sent to Ashcroft until Monday evening, Carle said.

At his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Mineta, the lone Democrat tapped for Bush's Cabinet, warned that flight delays this summer will likely be as bad or worse than the past two years.

Mineta, who chaired a commission that warned of imminent gridlock in the skies in 1997, told the hearing that although little could be done to fix congestion in the short term, that should not be an excuse for inaction.

"The only sure remedy for air traffic control congestion in the near term would be a recession that would suppress demand. Who among us wants to advocate that to the American people?" Mineta asked in his opening statement to the Senate Commerce Committee.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

MORE STORIES:

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

• Gore accepts visiting professor post at Columbia
• Lott calls Justice Department 'cesspool,' Ashcroft foes 'extremists'
• Secret Service says inauguration security breach wasn't threat to Bush
• Paige sworn in as education secretary
• Hillary takes Senate gavel -- for an hour
• Senate OKs health and human services, transportation chiefs

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