No Vote on Schafer Today

It looks like there ll be no vote today on the nomination of former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer to become the nation s ag secretary A spokesperson for Senator Kent Conrad says nine senators on the Agriculture committee submitted questions for Schafer last night How long it takes Schafer to respond to those questions will affect how quickly his nomination is voted on Conrad has expressed hope that Schafer could be confirmed by the full Senate in time to join the rest of the president s cabinet for the State of the Union address Monday night