WASHINGTON, Jan. 20—Within six hours after President Carter took the oath of office today, the Senate confirmed eight members of his Cabinet and two senior Administration officials with only perfunctory objections by a single member.
The Senate postponed action on three more controversial nominees: Griffin B. Bell, the Attorney General‐designate; F. Ray Marshall, the Secretary of Labordesignate, and Joseph A. Califano Jr., the nominee for Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.
The delay did not indicate that any of the three nominations was in trouble. In each case some Senators wanted an opportunity for a more extensive debate and a roll‐call vote, and the Senate had agreed there would be no roll calls on Inauguration Day.
An Attempt to Show Cooperation
In little more than an hour late this afternoon, the Senate confirmed these members of the Carter Cabinet:
¶Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, 59, of New York, a Wall Street lawyer.
¶Secretary of the Treasury W. Michael Blumenthal, 50, of Michigan, chairman of the Bendix Corporation.
Continue reading the main story¶Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, 49, of California, president of the California Institute of Technology.
¶Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus. 45, of Idaho, Governor of Idaho.
¶Secretary of Agriculture Bob S. Bergland, 48, of Minnesota, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives.
¶Secretary of Commerce Juanita M. Kreps, 55, of North Carolina, vice president of Duke University.
¶Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Patricia Roberts Harris, 52, of the District of Columbia, a Washington attorney.
¶Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams, 49, of Washington, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives.
Democratic leaders scheduled the unusually prompt confirmation votes in an effort to demonstrate their eagerness to cooperate with the new Democratic President and to counter, at least to some extent, the Senate's action in forcing Theodore C. Sorenson to withdraw as Director of Central Intelligence earlier this week.
The Senate also confirmed two other high Carter nominees: Bert Lance of Georgia, the incoming Director of the office of Management and Budget, and Charles L. Schultze of the District of Columbia, as chairmza of the Council of Economic Advisers.
The nomination of Mr. Califano will be taken up by the Senate on Monday with a two‐hour time limit on debate. Opposition to his confirmation is believed to be largely based on his personal stand against abortion.
Senator Robert C. Byrd, the Democratic floor leader, was unable to obtain agreement today on a date and time limit for debate on the Marshall confirmation. Some conservative Republicans regard the Carter nominee as overly prolabor and will attempt to defeat him on these grounds.
Proxmire Voted Against Two
The only Senator to interrupt the smooth flow of agreement on President Carter's Cabinet choices was William Proxmire, Democrat of Wisconsin, who voted against both Mrs. Harris and Mr. Lance, on otherwise unanimous voice votes, because he said they lacked experience for the new jobs.
Senator Proxmire also debated against confirmation of Mr. Brown as Secretary of Defense, in part because the new Cabinet officer appears to favor the B‐1 bomber and has been less than enthusiastic about major cuts in the defense budget. However, The Senator did not vote against Mr. Brown.
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