Senate Foreign Relations Will Examine Pending Nominations

Why It Matters

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has scheduled "Hearings To Examine Pending Nominations" for November 10. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) chairs the Committee on Foreign Relations, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is its ranking member; the committee's 21 members include Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a former U.S. ambassador to Japan who chairs the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Management subcommittee. ​

Broader Context

On October 1, Shaheen called for 10 career ambassadorial nominees to be advanced, though the available record does not establish that those nominees are the ones scheduled for the November 10 hearing.

Public entities have listed Senate nomination hearings and confirmations as a lobbying issue in recent filings. Harry Reid International Airport (Las Vegas, Nev.) reported $50,000 in lobbying spending for the fourth quarter of 2025, covering Cabinet-level nominations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) alongside airport financing and aviation issues. Contra Costa Water District (California) reported $60,000 per quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 on nominations for Cabinet-level positions and Senate confirmations. Both the Harry Reid International Airport and Contra Costa Water District filings name the Marcus Faust firm as their lobbying registrant. The matching language in these filings is generic, covering Cabinet-level and administration nominations broadly rather than Foreign Relations nominees such as ambassadors or State Department officials, so the connection to this committee is indirect.