参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（John Thune）本周宣称的首要目标之一，是在对抗性的民主党国会开启新会期前，确认“一大批”忠诚的白宫提名人，以巩固政府班子。关键参议员表示，这将是一项艰巨的任务。
One top goal Senate Majority Leader John Thune declared this week is to confirm “a whole lot of” loyal White House nominees to bolster the administration before a combative Democrat Congress begins. Key senators say it’s going to be a heavy lift.
推进终身任命的法官提名长期以来一直是两党的高调目标，共和党人已提交并表决了创纪录数量的法官提名。但唐纳德·特朗普总统的第二届政府尤其大力主张行使行政权力，并依赖忠诚的高层和中层骨干来执行命令，即使这违背了以往的规范和预期，并引发了法庭诉讼。
Advancing judges who serve lifetime appointments has long been a high-profile goal of both parties, and Republicans have introduced and voted on a record number. But the second administration of President Donald Trump has leaned especially hard into asserting its executive power and has counted on loyal upper- and mid-level foot soldiers to carry out marching orders, even when they’ve violated previous norms and expectations and wound up in court battles.
但一旦民主党在参议院掌握55或56个席位，这类人选的供给就会枯竭。
But the supply of such people will run dry once Democrats hold 55 or 56 seats in the Senate.
对图恩及其团队而言，好消息是有大量潜在官员待命：约160名文职、非司法提名人正等待参议院表决。此外，共和党已修改参议院规则，允许在全院会议上分批确认政府提名人，使最终表决更加容易。对他们而言，坏消息是许多未决的行政提名仍滞留在委员会中。
The good news for Thune and company is there are a lot of would-be officials on deck: around 160 civilian, non-judicial nominees are awaiting a Senate vote. Also, Republicans have changed Senate rules to allow administration nominees to be confirmed in batches on the floor, making final votes easier. The bad news for them is many of the outstanding executive nominations are still sitting in committees.
《华盛顿太阳报》（The Washington Sun）的统计发现，130多名政府候选人正等待相关委员会举行听证会或表决，而仅有约30人被提交至全院。这意味着，如果特朗普要让他的官员到位，委员会主席必须在短短几周内尽可能安排更多听证会和表决。
A count by The Washington Sun found that more than 130 administration candidates are awaiting hearings or votes on the relevant panels, while only around 30 have been reported to the floor. That means committee leaders will have to get as many hearings and votes as possible on the books in just a few weeks if Trump is going to get his officials.
一些主席，如环境与公共工程委员会主席、参议员雪莱·摩尔·卡皮托（Shelley Moore Capito，共和党-西弗吉尼亚州），告诉《太阳报》这正是她的计划。
Some chairs, such as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), who leads the Environment and Public Works Committee, told The Sun that is exactly her plan.
“我们会把他们推出委员会，然后提交到参议院全会进行分批表决，”卡皮托说。“我认为其他很多人也在试图这样做。”但她的一些同事持更怀疑的态度。参议院外交关系委员会积压的提名最多，有50多名大使和其他职位的提名等待处理。
“We’ll get them out and then up to the floor into the tranche,” Capito said. “I think that’s what a lot of other people are trying to do.”But some of her colleagues were more skeptical. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has the biggest backlog of nominees, with more than 50 ambassadors and other roles awaiting action.
仅国务院就有23个职位待定，其中包括驻匈牙利、巴基斯坦和阿拉伯联合酋长国大使以及和平团总监的提名。
There are 23 pending State Department positions alone, including nominations for ambassadors to Hungary, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates and the director of the Peace Corps.
参议院外交关系委员会主席吉姆·里施（共和党-爱达荷州）告诉《太阳报》，他不想随口评论委员会能否在1月前推进这些提名，但表示这是“一个合理的问题”。参议院军事委员会主席罗杰·威克（共和党-密西西比州）呼应了里施的观点，并补充说，他预计在共和党控制参议院的最后几周里，一些行政部门提名可能会让位于更紧迫的问题。
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the Foreign Relations chair, told The Sun that he didn’t want to comment offhand about whether the committee would be able to move those nominations before January, but said it’s “a legitimate question.”Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, echoed Risch, adding that he anticipates some of the executive nominations may take a backseat to more pressing issues in the final weeks of a Republican Senate.
他的委员会待审职位较少——包括一名国防部助理部长和一名海军部助理部长——但威克指出，他有更重要的优先事项要处理。
His committee has fewer positions to review –– among them an assistant secretary of defense and an assistant secretary to the Navy –– but Wicker noted that he has more important priorities to contend with.
“这将很困难，”威克说。“对我来说，立法表决比那些来来去去的职位提名更重要……我对今年剩余50多天的目标包括《国防授权法案》（NDAA）以及为国防提供充足资金的某个立法工具。”不过，参议员约翰·布兹曼（共和党-阿肯色州）告诉《太阳报》，他有信心在担任参议院农业委员会主席的最后几周里，推动剩余的行政部门提名走出委员会。
“It’s going to be difficult,” Wicker said. “The legislative votes, to me, are more significant than nominations for positions that come and go … My goals for the 50-plus days we have left in this year include the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] and some vehicle to fund national defense adequately.”Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas), though, told The Sun he feels confident that he will be able to move remaining executive nominations out of the Senate Agriculture Committee during his final weeks as chair.
布兹曼说，农业委员会不一样，因为大多数提名人选“不应带有党派色彩”。布兹曼补充说，他一直与委员会首席民主党人、参议员艾米·克罗布彻（民主党-明尼苏达州）密切合作，推进那些将帮助全国农民的提名人选。
Boozman said Agriculture is different because most of the nominees “shouldn’t be partisan.”Boozman added that he has worked closely with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), the top Democrat on the committee, to advance nominees who will help farmers around the country.
“我们有很好的机会让他们走出委员会，”布兹曼说。“这很有挑战性，但因为我们在委员会里共同合作，所以没有拖延战术之类的。所以我认为我们会准备好。”但是，日程安排在委员会日历上的其他一些行政部门任命者，比布兹曼的提名人可能更具争议性——不仅对民主党人，甚至对一些共和党人也是如此。
“We’ve got a really good chance of getting them out of committee,” Boozman said. “It is challenging, but because we’re working together on the committee, there’s no delay tactics or anything like that. So I think we’ll be ready.”But, some of the other executive appointees sitting on committee calendars are more controversial with Democrats — and even some Republicans — than Boozman’s nominees might be.
例如，林赛·哈利根被指定为弗吉尼亚东区联邦检察官，此前曾担任特朗普的私人律师，后来成为助手。她没有担任检察官的经验。
For instance, Lindsey Halligan, who is tabbed to be the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, previously worked as a personal lawyer and later an aide for Trump. She has no previous experience as a prosecutor.
凯瑟琳·埃施巴赫被提名为平等就业机会委员会总法律顾问，周二接受了听证会，但仍未获得卫生、教育、劳工和养老金委员会的确认。她此前曾担任SpaceX的公司律师，并监督了缩减EEOC规模以及执行总统终止多元化、公平与包容计划目标的工作。
Catherine Eschbach, who was nominated as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s general counsel, received a hearing on Tuesday but has still not been confirmed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. She was previously a corporate lawyer for SpaceX and oversaw efforts to downsize the EEOC and carry out the president’s goal of ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
另一位可能面临民主党抵制的提名人是加里·劳科夫斯基，他曾就赦免问题向总统提供建议，被提名为国家情报总监办公室首席律师。关于该提名的听证会定于下周举行。
Another nominee who could face Democratic pushback is Gary Lawkowski, who has advised the president on pardons and is nominated to become the top lawyer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. A hearing on the nomination is scheduled for next week.
迈克尔·洛萨皮奥被提名填补长期空缺的网络安全和基础设施安全局局长一职，也因他在Palantir的现任职位而面临民主党人的抵制。该公司因其数据分析和人工智能软件被用于政府监控、军事行动和激进的移民执法而受到抨击。
And Michael LoSapio, nominated to fill the long-vacant job of director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has also faced pushback from Democrats because of his current position at Palantir. The company received pushback after its data analytics and artificial intelligence software was used for government surveillance, military action and aggressive immigration enforcement.
另一个障碍是参议员凯文·克拉默（共和党-北达科他州），他在政府继续拒绝他要求修改湿地保护计划的要求时，对“任何和所有”特朗普提名人实施了冻结，该州农民反对该计划。
Another roadblock is Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), who has put holds on “any and all” Trump nominees while the administration continues to reject his demands to change a wetland conservation program that farmers in his state oppose.
冻结提名并不会完全阻止被提名人推进进程，但会拖慢确认程序。克拉默已同意放行部分被提名人，一名白宫官员周四告诉《华盛顿观察家报》，与克拉默的对话正在取得进展。
Holds do not stop nominees from moving forward entirely but slow down confirmation. Cramer has agreed to release some nominees, and a White House official told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that conversations with Cramer are progressing.
不过，考虑到所有相互竞争的优先事项以及推进被提名人面临的诸多障碍，其中一些人很可能永远无法获得通过。
Considering all the competing priorities and numerous impediments to moving nominees, though, it is likely that some of them will never get through.
参议员吉姆·贾斯蒂斯（共和党-西弗吉尼亚州）对《太阳报》表示，即使参议院一直开会，直到每一位行政部门被提名人都获确认，他也不认为将精力集中在特朗普官员身上是时间利用得当的做法。
And Sen. Jim Justice (R-West Virginia) told The Sun that even if the Senate were to stay in session until every single executive nominee were confirmed, he doesn’t think a focus on Trump officials would be a good use of time.
贾斯蒂斯说，共和党人应当与民主党人合作，寻找共同立足点以造福选民——尤其是在这样一场压倒性选举之后。他补充道：“当然”选民不会记住共和党为了确认更多特朗普政府任命人员而日夜奋战。
Instead, Republicans should be working with Democrats to find areas of common ground to benefit voters –– especially after such a resounding election, Justice said. “Of course” voters won’t remember the GOP working around the clock to confirm more Trump administration appointees, he added.
贾斯蒂斯说：“我们会说，‘好吧，我们要日夜工作。’但谁会记得那件事？两年后，选民会坐在那里说，‘我要投共和党的票，因为他们周六周日都坚守在岗位上。’不会的。”
“We’re going to say, ‘Well, we’re going to work night and day.’ But who’s going to remember that?”Justice said. “Two years from today, are the voters going to sit around and say, ‘Well, I’m going to vote for Republicans because they stayed in there on Saturday and Sunday.’ No.”