Senator Welch was outspoken about his no-vote. “The bottom line here for me, on the question of any nominee, is character, competence, and priorities. And on all three of these, I come up short with respect to Mr. Kennedy. Aside from the fact that we could better, it’s hard, in many ways, to see how we could do worse,” said Welch.

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.