A familiar face was back on Capitol Hill last month — but on the opposite side of the hearing table.

Testifying before Senate lawmakers, former Nassau County Rep. Anthony D’Esposito pledged that, if confirmed as the next inspector general for the U.S. Department of Labor, he would “go after waste, fraud and abuse — not in press releases, but in results.” 

D’Esposito is one of three one-term Republican congressmen from New York who lost reelection last year now awaiting confirmation by the Senate for jobs in the Trump administration. 

In addition to D’Esposito, President Donald Trump picked Hudson Valley Republican Marc Molinaro to be the Federal Transit administrator and Brandon Williams, who represented the Syracuse area in Congress, to be the undersecretary of energy for Nuclear Security. 

What You Need To Know

  • Three one-term Republican congressmen from New York who lost re-election last year are now awaiting confirmation by the Senate for jobs in the Trump administration 
  • President Donald Trump has picked former Reps. Anthony D'Esposito to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor, Marc Molinaro to be the Federal Transit administrator, and Brandon Williams to be the undersecretary of energy for Nuclear Security 

  • Molinaro and Williams have advanced out of committee and are awaiting approval from the full Senate. D’Esposito is still awaiting a committee vote 

Publicly available data suggests all three roles have a salary in the ballpark of $200,000. 

At his confirmation hearing in June, D’Esposito — who has not shied from repeatedly criticizing Democrats on his X social media account since exiting office — was pressed on the president’s decision earlier this year to fire several inspectors general. 

Asked by New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan if he supported the president doing so “without providing the required statutory notice to Congress,” D’Esposito replied. “I support that the American people elected President Trump to lead this country.”

“If President Trump decided — if I was confirmed — to dismiss me, I would understand,” he added. 

Hassan called that response “concerning,” taking issue with “the notion that you work for the president and not the American people in an inspector general's role.”

If confirmed, Williams — a Navy veteran who served on a nuclear submarine — would oversee the federal agency responsible for maintaining the nation’s nuclear stockpile. 

In April, Democrats pressed him on news that, as part of the president’s cost-cutting initiative known as DOGE, several employees of that agency were abruptly let go. The firings were eventually halted. 

“If confirmed, I will speak up for the men and women of the [National Nuclear Security Administration] and advocate for them," Williams told lawmakers. “I think we know how critical they are to restoring our nuclear deterrence, our nuclear weapons enterprise.” 

In heading the Federal Transit Administration, Molinaro would oversee the agency that gives financial and technical help to local public transit systems, from buses to ferries. 

At his confirmation hearing in March, Molinaro likened public transit to the circulatory system of the economy. 

Pressed to commit to dispersing all the already approved funding for transit projects “consistent with how it was authorized by Congress,” Molinaro told lawmakers.

“The president and the secretary have asked me to advocate on behalf of transit systems across this country and the riding public, and so my expectation is to advocate for the disbursement of contracted and obligated awards," he said.

All three nominations remain pending on Capitol Hill. 

Molinaro and Williams have advanced out of committee and are awaiting approval from the full Senate. D’Esposito is still awaiting a committee vote. 

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune did not offer a timeline on when the full chamber might vote on the three nominations.