The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed US President Donald Trump’s pick for US ambassador to the UN by a decisive margin as Republican-led committees paved the way for three more of his Cabinet nominees to be approved just days into the new administration.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley won strong support for the UN post, despite her lack of foreign policy experience. Senators voted 96-4 on Haley’s nomination.
Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Haley is a proven leader who will be a “fierce advocate” at the UN for US interests.
However, Senator Chris Coons said Haley did not convince him that she would serve effectively.
The US ambassador to the international body should be an expert on international affairs, “not someone who will be learning on the job,” Coons said.
A Senate vote is expected soon on Trump’s choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
The Foreign Relations Committee narrowly approved his nomination on Monday, 11-10. No Democrats on the panel voted for Tillerson.
Tillerson’s bid got a key boost when Senator Joe Manchin announced his support on Tuesday.
Manchin, who faces re-election next year in a state that backed Trump heavily in the presidential election, said Tillerson’s extensive business career “will bring a unique perspective” to the US Department of State.
The vote on Haley capped a day when the Republican-led panels endorsed Trump’s choices to lead the departments of transportation, housing and commerce. Yet congressional Republicans criticized Democrats for not moving quickly enough on all of the president’s selections.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, forced a one-week delay — until Tuesday next week — of the committee’s vote on Trump’s attorney general nominee, Senator Jeff Sessions.
Feinstein said senators “owe it” to the more than 1 million women who marched in Washington and other locations on Saturday to be careful in considering Sessions’ nomination and his willingness to protect equal rights.
She also said the committee received 188 pages of new material that needs to be reviewed.
Committee rules allow any member of the panel to delay a vote.
Deliberations over two of Trump’s picks turned testy as both nominees faced questions from Democrats over their finances.
Representative Tom Price, the president’s choice for secretary of health, defended his decision to invest in healthcare companies as he testified before the Senate Finance Committee.
Panel staffers said Price undervalued about 400,000 shares of stock in Australian drug company Innate Immunotherapeutics that he purchased in August last year.
He reported the shares were valued at US$50,000 to US$100,000, but they were worth up to US$250,000.
Price blamed a “clerical error” and answered “no” when Senator Ron Wyden asked if he had used poor judgement.
Senator Bernie Sanders said Trump’s nominee for budget director, US Representative Mick Mulvaney, should be disqualified because he failed to pay more than US$15,000 in payroll taxes for a babysitter more than a decade ago.
Mulvaney said he discovered the unpaid taxes while preparing for the nominating process.
He has since paid the taxes.
Trump’s choice for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, is also being scrutinized by Democrats about her qualifications, political donations and longtime work advocating for charter schools and school choice in her home state of Michigan.
Senator Gary Peters on Tuesday said he has no confidence that DeVos would fully support traditional public schools and students.
The Senate Commerce Committee approved by voice votes Trump’s choices of billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to run the US Department of Commerce and Taiwan-born Elaine Chao (趙小蘭) to lead the US Department of Transportation.
Ross has specialized in buying distressed companies that still have a potential for delivering profits. He has known Trump for more than 20 years, was an early supporter of his presidential campaign and served as an economic policy adviser to Trump’s team.
Chao, an experienced Washington hand, was labor secretary in the administration of former US president George W. Bush and deputy transportation secretary under former US president George H.W. Bush.
She is also the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Chao is expected to play a major role in Trump’s effort to fulfill his campaign promise to generate US$1 trillion in infrastructure investment.
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