The Senate is on track to vote next week on President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, after he cleared a key committee hurdle.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture on the nomination Wednesday, a day after the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced it 9-8 along party lines. A cloture vote could come as early as Monday, with a final confirmation vote a couple of days after that, per a Senate aide.

Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called Clayton “a highly qualified nominee with a deep experience combating a wide range of national security threats.” Clayton is currently leading the high-profile Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and is a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman.

If confirmed, Clayton will replace Bill Pulte, whose temporary appointment last month riled many Democrats after the resignation of former DNI Tulsi Gabbard. 

And while leadership is bullish about Clayton’s nomination reaching the simple majority threshold needed for confirmation, it won’t meet the bipartisan benchmark they’d been previously vying for. 

Clayton had been expected to get some bipartisan support after Trump announced his nomination last month, a limb on an olive branch extended to Democrats who had said they would not vote to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act while Pulte was intelligence head — even temporarily. 

But Trump abruptly instructed Clayton not to appear for his original hearing and delayed the nomination by weeks over a push for unrelated voter ID legislation and a desire to first see a replacement for Clayton’s current role as U.S. attorney. That caused Section 702 — which allows the U.S. government to collect digital communications of foreigners located outside the country — to expire as Democrats made good on their threats.

Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., said Wednesday that “nothing has changed” on FISA. “We got to get Mr. Pulte out before we talk.” 

Warner told “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Clayton is a better option than Pulte, but he was “bitterly disappointed” by Clayton’s appearance in front of the intelligence panel last week “not just from my questions, but from many of my colleagues.” He will vote against confirmation, he said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told reporters Wednesday he questioned “whether the committee was told the truth” during Clayton’s testimony.  

“There are credible allegations that he provided false testimony to the committee during his hearing about intimidation subpoenas sent about New York Times reporting,” Wyden said in a statement. “From start to finish, Mr. Clayton has proven himself incapable of telling the truth or demonstrating an iota of independence from Donald Trump.”

Other Democrats have latched on to Clayton’s remarks about voter fraud during his hearing last week, as the White House continues to push baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. 

“I’m not an election denier,” Clayton said during the hearing, while dodging a series of questions about who won the 2020 election. “Joe Biden was certified as the president of the United States.”

Trump has said he won’t sign any FISA reauthorization unless it comes alongside passage of the SAVE America Act. That sweeping election and voter ID legislation does not have the votes to pass the Senate. 

Some privacy-minded lawmakers argue FISA’s problems don’t stop with whoever is overseeing the program and are hoping for more time to keep pushing for changes, like warrant requirements for Americans’ data that may be swept up in the program. 

Wyden, who is leading the charge for Democrats in the Senate, said, “I think the only real answer here is reform.”

Nina Heller and Valerie Yurk contributed to this report.