The top Senate Democrat offered on Monday to cooperate with Republicans next year in considering President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choices for his cabinet and other top administration jobs, and called for the G.O.P. to adhere to traditional Senate vetting standards that Mr. Trump has threatened to skip.
In a letter to Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican who is set to become majority leader in January, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the current leader, said that he and his colleagues “stand ready and willing to work” with Senate Republicans in considering the nominations, several of which have already proved to be explosive. The latest was announced on Saturday, when Mr. Trump disclosed that he intended to name Kash Patel, a loyalist and right-wing provocateur, as director of the F.B.I.
“In particular,” Mr. Schumer wrote to Mr. Thune, “we commit to working in a bipartisan fashion to process each nominee by reviewing standard F.B.I. background-investigation materials, scheduling hearings and markups in the committees of jurisdiction, and considering nominees on the Senate floor.”
The letter comes as Mr. Trump has threatened to skirt the Senate and install some of his nominees during recesses, and some Senate Republicans have suggested that he should do so to get around resistance from Democrats. The president-elect’s advisers have also suggested that he should skip F.B.I. background checks for his nominees in favor of vetting by private security firms, a notion that some Senate Republicans have also embraced in recent days.
Both ideas have met resistance from some Republicans and Democrats who contend that they would constitute an abandonment of the Senate’s constitutional role of providing advice and consent on nominees. They worry that it would harm the institution and weaken the Senate’s ability to provide oversight of federal agencies.
In his letter, Mr. Schumer urged Republicans not to let that happen.
“In our system of checks and balances, this Senate plays a vital role in ensuring the president appoints well-qualified public officials that will dutifully serve the American people and honor their oaths to the Constitution,” Mr. Schumer wrote. “Regardless of party, the Senate has upheld this sacred duty for generations and we should not and must not waver in our constitutional duty.”
The letter from Mr. Schumer does not commit Democrats to supporting any nominees, and they are unlikely to vote for many, though more conventional picks such as Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and Mr. Trump’s choice for secretary of state, could draw significant bipartisan backing.
The top Democrats on the Senate committees are expected to soon make their own overtures to the incoming Republican chairmen.
Since Democrats will be in the minority, they will lack the votes to block Trump nominees who can be approved on simple majority votes, but they can throw up procedural obstacles that would slow the nominations. They are counting on using any hearings to persuade some Republicans to join them in pushing back on candidates they find objectionable, and also hope that Republicans insist on upholding the Senate’s role in the confirmation process.
Mr. Thune has said he intends to have the appointees follow the usual steps toward confirmation in the Senate, but has also said Republicans would preserve their options when it came to Mr. Trump’s nominees, including on recess appointments if necessary.
Mr. Schumer has been quiet about the prospective nominees themselves, though fellow Democrats have raised alarm about Mr. Patel and others, including former Representative Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from consideration as attorney general after it became obvious he lacked the Republican votes to be confirmed. Mr. Schumer has wanted to keep the focus on divisions within the G.O.P. on the nominees and not let Republicans blame Democrats for obstructing them, a dynamic that could lead Republicans to unify.
On Sunday, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, said he had no issues with Mr. Trump’s picks.
“I think the entire slate of cabinet nominees President Trump has put forward is very strong,” Mr. Cruz said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I believe every one of these cabinet nominees is going to be confirmed by the Senate.”
But Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, said that while the incoming president had the right to choose his top advisers, the Senate was not obligated to confirm all of them if senators saw issues.
“I think the vast majority of the members of the Senate will do the same thing: They will give a benefit of the doubt to the president with any one of his nominees,” Mr. Rounds said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But then we have a constitutional role to play in that we provide advice and consent. And, once again, that can be sometimes advice, sometimes it is consent.”
While Mr. Trump will not take office until Jan. 20, Republicans will take control of the Senate on Jan. 3 and can convene committee hearings on the prospective nominees when they take charge, clearing the way for some to be approved immediately after Mr. Trump is sworn in.
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