Although none of President-elect Clinton's Cabinet choices can be nominated until he takes the inaugural oath on Jan. 20, Senate committees will start conducting informal confirmation hearings this week.
Democrats hope that most can be confirmed by the full Senate on the 20th itself or the next day. But Republicans, still irritated over the Democrats' defeat of John G. Tower, President Bush's choice for secretary of defense four years ago, have not committed themselves either on the prospects of hard fights against any particular selections or on whether they will accommodate the Democrats' hopes for fast action. Democrats still control the Senate, but the chamber's rules make child's play of delay.Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, secretary of the Senate Republican conference, is coordinating Republican research efforts on Clinton's choices. He and other Republican leaders expect to discuss their plans on Monday.
In 1981, when Republicans took over the White House and the Senate from the Democrats, one Cabinet officer, Caspar W. Wein-ber-ger, the secretary of defense, was confirmed on Jan. 20, three more on Jan. 21 and seven on Jan. 22.
None faced significant opposition. Other, contested nominations, like that of Raymond J. Donovan to be secretary of labor, took longer.
When President Bush was inaugurated in 1989, Democrats controlled the Senate, and the first three Cabinet choices were not acted on until Jan. 25, when James A. Baker III, the secretary of state, Elizabeth Hanford Dole, the secretary of labor, and Richard G. Darman, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, were all confirmed.
In both 1981 and 1989 there were informal confirmation hearings like those planned this year. On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Ronald H. Brown, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee who has been selected to be secretary of com-merce.
On Thursday three or four hearings will be held. The Labor and Human Resources Committee will hear from Robert B. Reich, a Harvard lecturer who is nominated to be the secretary of labor. The Commerce Committee will hear Fed-erico F. Pena, the former mayor of Denver, who has been chosen as secretary of transportation. The Veterans Affairs Committee will hear Jesse Brown, executive director of the Disabled American Veterans and Clinton's selection to be secretary of veterans affairs.
Next week, several more hearings are planned. Warren M. Christopher, the nominee for secretary of state, will go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 13 and 14. Carol M. Browner, Florida's top environmental official and the selection to be administrator of the environmental protection agency, will go before the Environment and Public Works Committee next Monday.
On that same day, Rep. Leon E. Panetta of California, Clinton's choice as budget director, is expected to go before Governmental Affairs Committee.
The Senate Finance Committee expects to hold three hearings that week. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, the committee's current chairman, is up for secretary of the treasury.
The committee will also hear from Donna E. Shalala, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin who had been chosen to be secretary of health and human services, and from Mickey Kantor, Clinton's campaign chairman who has been chosen to be U.S. trade representative.