Senate Republicans are moving quickly to vote on President Donald Trump’s pick to run the country’s intelligence agencies, underscoring the level of anxiety in Washington over a temporary lapse in the federal government’s spy powers.

The Senate Intelligence Committee scheduled a confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton the same day the president announced his nomination to be the next director of national intelligence on Thursday. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 17, meaning Clayton, currently a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, could be sworn into the post later this month.

His appointment is seen as the key to extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after Democrats backed out of a deal for its renewal. The impasse is centered on Trump’s decision to name Bill Pulte, a top housing official with no national security experience, to the post on an interim basis, and Republicans are hoping to overcome Democrats’ opposition by getting Clayton in place.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters that the Senate will try to get Clayton confirmed “as quickly as possible,” noting he was previously approved by the Senate to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission during the first Trump administration.

Still, Thune acknowledged Clayton’s confirmation by the Senate is unlikely to happen before June 19, which is when Pulte replaces the outgoing director, Tulsi Gabbard.

“I don’t know what ‘realistic’ is, but we’re gonna probe the limits of it,” Thune said. 

Democrats appear receptive to Clayton’s nomination, with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, saying he believes Clayton is a “capable public servant.” Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), his Democratic counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee, similarly voiced confidence in Clayton on Thursday.

Trump’s announcement nonetheless came too late to avert an expiration of Section 702, which allows for the surveillance of foreign nationals abroad without a warrant, on Friday at midnight. A three-week patch to keep the program from going “dark” failed in the House on Thursday morning and then was blocked by Democrats in the Senate later the same day.

Now, House lawmakers are gone for a one-week recess, and Democrats are still objecting to a renewal in the Senate since the interim appointment for Pulte has not been withdrawn.

“Pulte has got to go,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters as the Senate headed out of town Thursday. “The DNI role is too important. He cannot be there, no ands, ifs, or buts. No matter what else they do.”

Warner said in a statement that the “timing” of the announcement raised an obvious question: “If the president intended to nominate Mr. Clayton, why spend the last ten days insisting that the Intelligence Community be led by an acting director who lacks the extensive national security experience required by statute and whose appointment raises serious concerns about the politicization of intelligence?”

Warner continued, “The president could have put forward a qualified nominee from the beginning. Instead, he waited until the House of Representatives went out of town, choosing a path that raises the risk of an entirely avoidable lapse in a critical national security tool.”

Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of using the surveillance program as a “political hostage” and pointed the finger at Senate Democrats for the upper chamber’s inability to pass a three-year deal.

Earlier on Thursday, when asked if he would consider bringing the House back for another renewal vote, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) posed, “What would be the point?” He referred to a similar three-year extension the House passed back in April that has stalled out in the Senate and Democrats’ opposition to the shorter patch on Thursday.

“What would be the point of me going through this exercise over and over?” the speaker asked. “The House has done every single thing.”

A smaller group of Republicans has opposed an extension as well, with 19 House Republicans voting against the three-week patch over concerns related to privacy and warrant requirements.

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), one of the Republicans to vote against the short-term extension, told the Washington Examiner that it was “highly irresponsible for the Democrats to vote this down because they don’t like an interim presidential appointment.”