Republicans eye backup plan to confirm Gabbard

Senate Republicans are eyeing a backup plan to get Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to the floor if she can’t win over all nine of their Intelligence Committee members.

It wouldn’t be pretty, but it could get her a floor vote — and, potentially, confirmation as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.

The Intelligence Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has the power to send Gabbard’s nomination to the full Senate with no recommendation — or an unfavorable recommendation, which is less ideal – rather than a favorable vote. With Gabbard’s nomination facing severe headwinds on the panel, those could end up as Republicans’ best options to get her confirmed if she can’t reverse her fortunes.

“There are probably, perhaps, creative ways” to get Gabbard out of committee, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Semafor. “But obviously, ideally, you want to see a nominee that’s coming out of committee with an affirmative vote.”

Asked if he’d consider using the back-up plan, Thune replied: “Don’t want to go there.”

As Gabbard prepares for a Thursday committee hearing that could make or break her bid to join Trump’s Cabinet, though, there’s quiet talk among Republicans about extracting her from the committee without a favorable recommendation. The former Hawaii Democratic congresswoman wouldn’t be the first Trump nominee to take that rare route to confirmation.

In 2017, the Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced Mick Mulvaney’s nomination to be Trump’s White House budget director to the floor with no recommendation amid reservations from former Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was a panel member at the time. Mulvaney eventually got confirmed.

GOP leaders would clearly prefer that the Senate confirm Gabbard via the usual process, reporting her favorably to the floor after her hearing. But the 53-seat Republican majority has enough reservations about her nomination to put her whip count in jeopardy.

Chief among Gabbard’s issues: Her past statements that some have seen as too warm toward Vladimir Putin, her meeting with deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and her views on US intelligence programs.

Cotton is defending Gabbard on social media and “coordinating closely with Tulsi and her team for the hearing,” a person familiar with the process told Semafor. The Intelligence chairman’s clear task is to get her out of committee to the floor, where Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso would work to ensure she has 50 votes.

The full Senate can also vote to discharge nominees from committee if the panel is unable to cobble a majority together for anything, but that can be subject to a 60-vote threshold. A previous agreement to bring tied committee votes to the floor expired with the 50-50 Senate in 2022.

Republicans could also report other Trump nominees to the Senate floor without favorable recommendations if they get tied up in committee. One example: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also faces Senate committees this week.