The Senate gives Trump his Cabinet — and their compliance

Donald Trump is back, and it sure isn’t 2017 anymore in the Senate.

Two of the president’s most controversial nominees are on a glide path to confirmation later this week. That caps off a notable three-week stretch that has seen more than a dozen Trump Cabinet nominees confirmed with near-unanimous Republican support.

The sweep of successful confirmations is the latest sign from the Senate GOP that it wants to be viewed as a partner, not a problem, for Trump at the start of his second term. It’s a distinct shift from his first administration, when Trump had to withdraw one Cabinet pick weeks into his first term then later saw a small band of Senate Republicans scuttle the party’s marquee effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

“My goal was to make sure every one of President Trump’s nominees got confirmed,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in a brief interview, adding that Senate Republicans vowed “to move ahead with speed, with urgency, and we’ve done just that.”