The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on the nomination of Stephen Vaden, a member of the Trump administration since early 2017, to be USDA general counsel. Senators voted, 49-45, on Monday to limit debate on the nomination in a vote that also gauged support for Vaden.
Three Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, joined Republicans in voting to proceed to a final vote on the nomination. The committee cleared Vaden for a floor vote nearly a year ago.
Vaden was part of the Trump “beach head team” at USDA in 2017 and effectively had been USDA’s general counsel for months in his appointed position as principal deputy general counsel. Vaden has enforced unpopular workplace rules at USDA. In private practice, he was part of a team of lawyers who filed friend-of-the-court briefs in Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia in defense of voter ID laws.