Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Tuesday the Senate will vote this month to confirm William Barr, President Trump’s pick to serve as attorney general.
McConnell said the Senate would take up Barr’s nomination after it wraps up debate and votes on a public lands bill the chamber is expected to begin considering this afternoon. Senators could complete that legislation by next week, leaders said.
Lawmakers will “then move to the Barr nomination,” McConnell said.
Barr is expected to easily win confirmation, which requires a simple majority rather than the typical 60-vote threshold. With 53 Republicans in the Senate, Barr’s confirmation is assured as long as Republicans stick together.
Barr served as attorney general to former President George H.W. Bush and is a widely respected Republican lawyer.
Some Democrats will vote against Barr and criticized him during his confirmation hearing because he refused to guarantee that he would release all of special counsel Robert Mueller’s pending report on alleged collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign.
Barr will replace Jeff Sessions, who left the job last year after clashing with Trump over the latter’s decision to recuse himself from overseeing Mueller. Sessions’ chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, is serving as the acting attorney general.
[Read more: William Barr says Congress can release his final report on Mueller]
