Traffic jams are expected in the Senate as the race to confirm President-elect Trump's Cabinet nominees begins.

In short, nothing will happen until President-elect Trump is inaugurated on January 20.

Yes, there will be a lot of Trump loyalists attending the various inaugural balls around town.

But once the inauguration ends at the Capitol, the Senate gets down to business. Some committees are already considering arranging "mark-ups" to potentially release or send various nominations. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is ready to meet on January 20 at 3:15 pm to nominate Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to serve as Secretary of State. As is customary, the Senate will confirm at least several of Trump's nominees hours after Trump is sworn in.

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Let history guide us:

The Senate confirmed Trump’s Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly on the evening of January 20, 2017. The next confirmation was not received until January 31, 2017. That is Elaine Chao (R-Ky.), the wife of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as transportation secretary.

In 2021, shortly after President Biden was sworn in, the Senate confirmed one of his nominees. On the evening of January 20, 2021, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines became the first confirmed Biden nominee. The first full cabinet-level vote did not take place until Jan. 22, after the Senate confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

So while everyone puts on their tuxedos on Monday night, the Senate will likely vote on one or two nominees on the evening of January 20th.

Fox was told that the most likely candidates might include Rubio - because he is a well-known figure in the Senate and has bipartisan support. Another possibility is CIA director nominee John Ratcliffe. The Senate had previously confirmed Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence during Trump's first administration. He is also a well-known figure in the halls of Congress, having served as a Republican congressman from Texas. His hearing will be held tomorrow.

Frankly, the ambitious timeline for quickly approving several nominees can be challenging.

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The Senate Energy Committee had to postpone Tuesday's confirmation hearing for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum from Tuesday to Thursday because of paperwork delays. Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee Doug Collins is not controversial. He is a former Republican congressman from Georgia. But Tuesday's confirmation hearing was postponed until next week. Collins could be a figure that could be confirmed quickly.

Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi is also someone who could be confirmed relatively quickly. Her hearings will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. Then she maybe next week? Not sure.

But let’s look back at the Senate’s record on confirming President Biden’s nominees and compare it to expectations for the new Trump administration.

Following Lloyd Austin, the Senate confirmed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on January 25, 2021, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 26. Most Cabinet officials are not confirmed until February or March. The Senate did not confirm Interior Secretary Deb Haaland until March 15, 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra until March 18, 2021, and not until March 2021. The appointment of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was only confirmed on March 22.

You get it.

Each nominee must undergo a hearing. Committees have different rules for how nominations are submitted to the plenary session. So this may also take some time. Some nominees may be stuck in committee depending on opposition or attendance issues. Then there might be a debate on the floor.

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If Democrats block a nominee, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) may need to employ procedural maneuvers to break the obstruction. Just the process of initiating the procedural vote to break the filibuster took three days. If the nominee's opponents still won't budge, senators could drag out debate over the nominee for a day or two — even though the Senate has already broken the filibuster.

In February 2017, Mike Pence became the first vice president to break a tie and confirm a Cabinet official. He did so to confirm former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

In other words, on-site time is at a premium. There are various parliamentary "meridians" for when the Senate can take certain procedural votes to advance a nominee. That's why the Senate held a procedural vote on DeVos' nomination at 7 a.m. on February 2017. The Senate also confirmed then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price around 2 a.m. one morning.

We haven't even gotten the other nominations that are important to the administration, like Pete Hoekstra for ambassador to Canada or Mike Huckabee for ambassador to Israel. There are more than 800 positions requiring Senate approval.

To speed up the process, the Senate could confirm some non-controversial nominees "en banc". This means the Senate will approve nominations from both parties to ensure there is no objection. If not, the Senate compiles a list and confirms a group of nominees at once.

But this is a long and tedious process. Confirmation of various Trump administration positions will take months. It consumed hours of venue time. This is the Senate's most valuable commodity. Keep in mind that while pushing to confirm Trump's nominee, the Senate is trying to work out a timing agreement and amendments to pass the Laken Riley Act, as well as a sanction from the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest warrant bill.

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It's a monster process. It may take some early mornings, late nights, and even some weekends before this thing is resolved.