A trio of positive coronavirus tests distorted the Senate schedule on Tuesday as Democrats lost the votes they needed to advance multiple nominees this week in an evenly split Senate.
Back in Washington from a two-week recess, Democrats had sought to approve multiple nominations this week, including Lisa D. Cook as Federal Reserve governor and Alvaro Bedoya as a member of the Federal Trade Commission.
But with Vice President Kamala Harris and two Senators, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, isolated after positive tests, Democrats don’t have the votes needed to approve either Mrs. Cook or Mr. Bedoya.
The loss of just a few votes through illness underscored the dangers for Majority Leader New York Senator Chuck Schumer and the Democratic caucus as they work to maneuver the rest of President Biden’s nominations and legislative priorities through an equal divided Senate, in which Mrs. Harris is needed to break a tie.
Democratic leaders have typically postponed all party line votes unless they know that enough members of their caucus will be in attendance. They faced a similar dilemma earlier this year when New Mexico Democrat Senator Ben Ray Luján recovered from a stroke in February.
Both Ms. Cook and Mr. Bedoya failed to receive any support from Republicans during separate procedural votes earlier this year.
A procedural vote to advance Ms Cook’s nomination failed Tuesday, without full Democratic support. A senior Senate Democratic aide, who wishes to remain anonymous, has confirmed that the Senate will reconsider the nomination and that the vote on Mr. Bedoya’s nomination will be postponed.
In separate statements on Tuesday, Mr. Wyden and mr. Murphy said they had mild symptoms but had been fully vaccinated. Mr. Wyden’s office has confirmed that he has received two booster shots.
“It’s unfortunate, but I’m sure if I wasn’t fully vaccinated I would feel a lot worse,” said Mr. Murphy. wrote on Twitter† “So don’t forget to get your booster!”
