Hegseth clears fiery Senate hearing – on his way to what is expected to be Senate confirmation.

The bottom line: No Republican members of the Armed Services Committee displayed an appetite to buck Trump on his first Cabinet pick. And while Democratic senators assailed Hegseth, 44, an Army National Guard veteran, as unfit to manage the Pentagon and a poor role model to lead the armed forces, especially women, they were minority voices.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) was joined by fellow Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) in insisting that Hegseth, if confirmed, would lower the Defense Department’s high bar for leadership and integrity after publicly arguing for years that women should be denied combat roles because he believed standards were “eroded” for them. Democrats challenged Hegseth’s past objections to women in combat, which he recently revised.

“You can’t seem to grasp that there is no U.S. military as we know it without the incredible women that we serve, women who earn their place in their units,” said Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who was critically wounded flying a combat helicopter in Iraq.

“You’re not qualified, Mr. Hegseth,” she added with finality.

The Associated Press: Hegseth was stumped by Duckworth’s question about ASEAN. What it is and why is it important?

Duckworth offered assertions about qualifications and experience that also were raised by the panel’s top Democrat, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, a West Point graduate and Army veteran.

Hegseth has denied reports of sexual misconduct, mismanagement while working with veteran nonprofit organizations and episodes of excessive drinking allegedly evident during his work, including at Fox News. He dismissed senators’ critiques as smears, although his own mother once wrote him a blistering letter of personal rebuke, which she recanted during a recent "Fox & Friends interview."

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), previously a question mark for confirmation after private conversations with Hegseth, was brief and polite during her allotted seven minutes of questioning. She’s a veteran and a sexual assault survivor who will be up for reelection next year in a state Trump won by nearly 13 points. She announced later Tuesday during a Des Moines radio interview that she will vote to confirm Hegseth.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) praised the president’s choice for the Pentagon and vowed to “work quickly” to bring the official nomination to the Senate floor.

At least six other Trump Cabinet picks face Senate confirmation questioning today, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is expected to attract bipartisan support to be secretary of State. He’ll be encouraged to square the circle between his past critiques of isolationism and Trump’s “America First” agenda.