Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday he will try to get President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence confirmed “as quickly as possible.”

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

Trump on Thursday afternoon said he’d be nominating Jay Clayton, currently leading the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to the role.

Within hours, the Senate Intelligence Committee had set a hearing for Wednesday and business meeting for Thursday.

Trump has picked Bill Pulte to take over as the temporary director the next day, June 19, a move that solidified Democratic opposition to even a short-term reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

That key surveillance authority now will lapse going into the weekend.

Thune noted that Clayton “has been through the process obviously before.”

“So, my assumption is at least that if we can get the nomination and the paperwork here, we can move fairly quickly,” Thune said.

During Trump’s first term, the Senate confirmed Clayton 61-37 to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. But his nomination to be an U.S. attorney stalled in the Senate last year, and he was later named to the role by a federal court.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called Clayton “an excellent choice” in a social media post.

“In his service to the people of New York, Mr. Clayton has deep experience combatting a wide range of national security threats,” Cotton wrote. “The Senate Intelligence Committee will quickly process his nomination.”

The timing of Clayton’s confirmation is tied to the Section 702 reauthorization push.

Trump on Thursday confirmed that Pulte “will serve for a short run” until Clayton is approved by the Senate. “He’s only there for a little while. He’s running it for a short while, when we get a very talented person, Jay Clayton,” Trump said.

Democrats raised concerns that Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, lacks intelligence experience and has referred some of Trump’s perceived foes to the Department of Justice for mortgage fraud allegations.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said while he is “glad to see the president finally come to his senses, before the Senate can take up a FISA extension there needs to be a clear guarantee that Mr. Pulte will not serve as acting DNI.”

“Either Director [Tulsi] Gabbard must remain in place, or the administration must designate the Senate-confirmed Principal Deputy DNI as the acting head through any transition,” Warner said.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said leaving the Capitol on Thursday that Pulte “has to go.”

“He cannot be in the DNI role. Our national security is too important,” Schumer said.

Congressional Republicans have said reauthorizing Section 702 is a matter of national security.

“The responsible next step is to have a short-term extension of this legislation, especially as we begin welcoming literally millions of foreigners to this country for the World Cup and for the America 250 celebrations right around the corner,” Cotton said Thursday from the floor. “If we don’t extend it for at least a few weeks while we continue to work on our differences, the consequences could be severe. The consequences, to be frank, could be fatal.”

Earlier Thursday, a short-term extension failed in the House, all but ensuring the spy power’s statutory authority will lapse. The House is also scheduled to be on recess next week, landing the problem back into the Senate’s lap when they return Monday.

“What would be the point?” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said when asked if he’d bring the House back next week. Democrats “are using it as a political hostage.”

Ryan Tarinelli and John T. Bennett contributed to this report.