With less than a week until President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration Monday, Senate committees are holding a flurry of confirmation hearings on Trump’s Cabinet nominations. This Tuesday through Thursday, 11 Senate committees will hear from 13 Cabinet-level nominees. The Senate can then begin approving these nominations next week, in fulfillment of its constitutional duty to provide “advice and consent” on presidential appointments.

Before Cabinet nominees even receive a Senate hearing, many of them have already met with senators informally to gauge support and iron out disagreements. (Some nominees with controversial baggage or thin support don’t survive this stage in the process, like Trump’s first pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz.) The nominees also undergo an ethics review and a background check.

Nominees then usually receive a committee hearing as a preliminary step to a committee vote to recommend their confirmation to the full Senate. Nominees voted through committee then proceed to the Senate floor, where they need a majority of senators to vote for them, in order to be confirmed.

Punchbowl News compiled a full rundown of the Senate hearings taking place this week:

• Doug Collins, secretary of Veterans Affairs nominee, before the Veterans Affairs Committee, Tuesday, 9 a.m.
• Pete Hegseth, secretary of Defense nominee, before the Armed Services Committee, Tuesday, 9:30 a.m.
• Doug Burgum, secretary of the Interior nominee, before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR), Tuesday, 10 a.m.
• Kristi Noem, secretary of Homeland Security nominee, before the Homeland Security Committee, Wednesday, 9 a.m.
• Pam Bondi, attorney general nominee, before the Judiciary Committee, Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.
• Marco Rubio, secretary of State nominee, before the Foreign Relations Committee, Wednesday, 10 a.m.
• John Ratcliffe, director of the Central Intelligence Agency nominee, before the Intelligence Committee, Wednesday, 10 a.m.
• Sean Duffy, secretary of Transportation nominee, before the Commerce Committee, Wednesday, 10 a.m.
• Chris Wright, secretary of Energy nominee, before the ENR Committee, Wednesday, 10 a.m.
• Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget nominee, before the Homeland Security Committee, Wednesday, 1 p.m.
• Eric Turner, secretary of Housing and Urban Development nominee, before the Banking Committee, Thursday, 10 a.m.
• Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency nominee, before the Environment and Public Works Committee, Thursday, 10 a.m.
• Scott Bessent, secretary of the Treasury nominee, before the Finance Committee, Thursday, 10:30 a.m.

(Most committees handle a single hearing, but the Homeland Security and ENR Committees will each hear from two nominees, and the Judiciary Committee scheduled hearings with attorney general nominee Pam Bondi on both Wednesday and Thursday.)

While cabinet officials occasionally testify before Senate committees, and some weeks might even feature a double-header, a cabinet-level hearing marathon of this magnitude only comes to Washington once every four years — when an incoming administration is trying to get his key lieutenants in place as soon as possible.

Beginning with Trump’s first term, it has taken the Senate longer to confirm initial presidential nominations for cabinet positions than in years past. President George W. Bush had seven cabinet officials confirmed on January 20, 2001 and 13 by the end of January. President Barack Obama had six cabinet officials confirmed on January 20, 2009 and 10 by the end of January.

But in Trump’s first term, only two cabinet officials were confirmed on January 20, 2017, and only three by the end of January. In President Joe Biden’s cabinet, no officials were confirmed on January 20, 2021 and only three by the end of January.

The only way for Cabinet officials to receive a confirmation vote from the full Senate on a president’s first day in office is if there is a bipartisan agreement to save time and let the nomination slide through without debate. Otherwise, the Senate must hold a certain number of required hours for debate on each nominee, a process that can consume days. “All it takes is one Democrat to refuse to consent to fast-tracking any of these nominees,” Punchbowl reports, “meaning Senate Majority Leader John Thune [R] would have to burn a few days of floor time to confirm each one.”

According to Punchbowl, the likeliest nominee to enjoy a bipartisan fast-track to confirmation is Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), nominated as secretary of State. As a sitting U.S. senator, he is already well-known to all who will be voting on his nomination. Punchbowl suggests that John Ratcliffe, nominated to be CIA director, is also a likely candidate for an early nomination since the Senate confirmed him before.

“Senate Republicans want Trump’s national security nominees to be confirmed on day one,” according to Punchbowl, but Democrats seem determined to throw sand in the gears over the nomination of Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, alleging he is unfit for the post.

Other Cabinet nominations could drag out as well. Out of 15 Cabinet-level agency heads and seven to 10 other Cabinet-level officials, only 13 will receive hearings this week, meaning that nearly a dozen will not begin the formal Senate confirmation process until on or after Inauguration Day.

Leader Thune has “promised to grind through these nominees if Democrats throw up roadblocks, even if that means keeping the Senate in session on Fridays.” This means that the Republican majority in the Senate will eventually be able to confirm all of Trump’s nominees — at least the ones that lock up the necessary support from 51 senators (or 50 senators plus Vice President-elect J.D. Vance) — even if it takes time.