The U.S. Senate is unlikely to take a vote to confirm Agriculture Secretary nominee Sonny Perdue this week.
Instead, the Senate will focus time on a filibuster and confirmation vote for Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch.
The delay means the earliest slot Perdue could get is after the Easter recess, during the last week of April.
The former Georgia Governor was the last cabinet member nomination by President Trump, with a wait on ethics papers that delayed the process.
Agriculture groups are eager for Perdue to take office, Dale Moore with the American Farm Bureau says many are frustrated by delay after delay, “Once again, agriculture, which is the one of the least partisan in terms of party politics anyway, in terms of the programs that operate, and here we are still almost four months in or getting close to four months into president Trump’s new administration, we still don’t have a Secretary of Agriculture.”
The Senate could have had Perdue’s nomination this week, but it required a bipartisan time agreement or unanimous consent of all senators to consider him in along with Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch.