From the first Morning Jolt of the week . . .

The first full week of 2017: A new year has begun in earnest, a new Congress is in office, and a new president takes office in eleven days.
If you look, you can find announcements of companies expanding and hiring. Cable operator Charter Communications plans on hiring 20,000 over the next three years. Pison Stream Solutions in Brecksville, Ohio, plans to hire 150 people in the next three years. Cyber-security firm ReliaQuest in Tampa plans to hire at least 150 people in 2017. Information-technology company S4 is hiring 100 employees in Colorado Springs. Proterra, a startup that makes electric transit buses with fast-charging batteries, planning openings in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Greenville, South Carolina. UnitedHealthcare is hiring for 50 new jobs in Shelton, Connecticut.
Are we on the verge of an economic boom? Honestly, the data is mixed. But 2017 can still be a booming year for you.
Brace Yourselves: Confirmation Hearings Are Coming.
It’s the first big week of confirmation hearings, which . . . feels like some contrived drama.
Every one of these nominees begins with 52 Republicans heavily inclined to vote for the nominee that the president has named, with a couple of Democrats in red states feeling some heat for 2018. And everyone knows who they are; the Judicial Crisis Network is running ads touting attorney-general nominee Jeff Sessions in Missouri, Indiana, North Dakota, and Washington, D.C.; it’s described as a “mid-six figure ad campaign comprised of both cable and digital and will run through the entire confirmation process.”
Let’s turn back the clock to January 2009, when there were just 41 Republicans in the Senate. The number of Democrats steadily increased as Roland Burris joined on January 15, Arlen Specter switched to the Democratic party at the end of April, and Al Franken’s election wasn’t settled until the end of June.
Hillary Clinton was confirmed as secretary of state, 94 votes in favor, 2 opposed.
Eric Holder was confirmed as attorney general, 75 votes in favor, 21 opposed.
Kathleen Sebelius was confirmed ashealth and human services secretary, 65 votes to 31 opposed.
Tim Geithner, who ran into some trouble over unpaid taxes, was confirmed, 60 votes in favor, 34 opposed.
Looking back, Republicans concentrated their objections to just a few of Obama’s selections. The Senate confirmed seven Obama nominees the day he was inaugurated, and another five within his first week in office; 13 were confirmed via voice vote without any recorded opposition.
Senate Democrats plan a very different approach:
Democratic senators plan to aggressively target eight of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees in the coming weeks and are pushing to stretch their confirmation votes into March — an unprecedented break with Senate tradition.
Incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused Trump of trying to seat a “rigged Cabinet” of nominees who “have made billions off the industries they’d be tasked with regulating.”
“Any attempt by Republicans to have a series of rushed, truncated hearings before Inauguration Day and before the Congress and public have adequate information on all of them is something Democrats will vehemently resist,” Schumer added in a statement to The Washington Post confirming his caucus’s plans. “If Republicans think they can quickly jam through a whole slate of nominees without a fair hearing process, they’re sorely mistaken.”
“Why is everything in Washington so partisan?” Because our political leaders choose to behave this way.