HELP Committee keeps Elon Musk subpoena off agenda, advances Keith Sonderling nomination 12-11

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted to advance President Trump's nominee Keith Sonderling for deputy secretary of labor, recording 12 ayes and 11 nays during an executive-session roll call. The committee had earlier declined to consider a separate motion seeking authorization to investigate federal agency actions and to subpoena Elon Musk.

The procedural effort was introduced on the floor by Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders moved “that pursuant to its authority in rules 25 and 26 of the standing rules of the Senate and rule 17 of the rules of procedure of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hereby authorizes an investigation into the actions of the United States, those services, and agencies within the committee's jurisdiction, and pursuant to the same authority, authorizes the chairman to subpoena Mr. Elon Musk for testimony regarding those actions.”

Chairman Bill Cassidy told the panel it would “proceed[] with the vote included on the published agenda for this executive session” and that “unrelated motions will not disrupt the vote that was properly noticed to the committee.” The chair's ruling left Sanders' motion off the published agenda; a separate request to overturn the chair's ruling was not adopted, and the committee moved to the noticed business.

After the procedural exchange, the clerk called the roll on Sonderling's nomination. The tally reported to the committee was 12 ayes and 11 nays. The committee record in the transcript shows the roll-call process and the final numeric result; no committee-level…