FIRST ON FOX: The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America are launching a $1 million public education campaign to advocate for the “prompt confirmation” of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointees and will target the home states of key senators who could “make or break” the confirmation process, Fox News Digital has learned.
The campaign will also educate the American public on presidential authority on Cabinet appointments.
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“Taking down the deep state isn’t just a priority for President Trump — it’s the mandate the American people gave him,” president of the Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America Dr. Kevin Roberts told Fox News Digital. “If he succeeds, it will cement his legacy as the president who confronted Washington’s unaccountable bureaucracy and restored power to the people.”
Roberts said Trump’s Cabinet choices “reflect a commitment to this mission, and now is the time for every conservative to quickly unite behind his nominees and get to work saving this great republic.”
Heritage officials, like Executive Vice President Ryan Walker, said the organization and its “millions of grassroots conservatives stand ready to support President Trump and his slate of nominees through a swift Senate confirmation process.”
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Walker told Fox News Digital that it is imperative for the new Senate GOP majority to “unite to deliver on the promises made to the American people to implement the America First agenda as soon as possible.”
Walker said the organization plans to use “all advocacy tools” at their disposal to ensure Trump’s Cabinet nominees receive “timely advice-and-consent consideration in the Senate as envisioned by the founders.”
Meanwhile, the former general counsel to the U.S. Department of Transportation under Trump, now a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Steve Bradbury, told Fox News Digital that Trump “is right to demand a return to the regular constitutional order for appointments in which the Senate gives his nominees expedited consideration and a prompt confirmation vote.”
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“The advice and consent function of the Senate is critical to our constitutional system of separated powers, but it should not be used to obstruct the president’s ability to put qualified appointees in place,” Bradbury said. “The president is also right to demand an end to the Senate’s dubious practice of using pro forma sessions to prevent recess appointments.”
Bradbury noted that until recent history, presidents have exercised their authority under the Constitution to fill vacancies during recesses of the Senate with temporary appointments.
The Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts conducts a discussion with former Vice President Mike Pence titled “The Freedom Agenda and America’s Future,” in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“This power is an important check on the Senate’s advice and consent function, and President Trump is right to reserve his authority to make use of his recess appointment power if the Senate refuses to give his nominees fair and prompt consideration,” he said.
Trump has already tapped the majority of key Cabinet officials and is “confident” that Senate Republicans “will hold the line and respect the will of the American people by approving his cabinet nominees.”
A Trump transition official told Fox News Digital that the president-elect is “very happy” with Vice President-elect JD Vance, who has been “laser focused on already getting the ball rolling on his highly-qualified nominees.”
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Trump’s nominees and administration picks during his second administration are being publicly announced at a much faster pace than during his first administration in 2016, which the transition team attributed to Trump’s commitment to putting “America first.”
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“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, and his Cabinet picks reflect his priority to put America First. President Trump will continue to appoint highly qualified men and women who have the talent, experience and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt previously told Fox News Digital when asked about Trump’s speedy rollout of Cabinet picks.