Senate confirms Trump’s UN pick

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations by a decisive margin Tuesday 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 Gov. Nikki Haley won strong support for the U.N. post despite her lack of foreign policy experience. Senators voted 96-4 on Haley’s nomination.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Haley is a proven leader who will be a “fierce advocate” at the U.N. for American interests.

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 Monday, 11-10. No Democrats on the panel voted for Tillerson.

Tillerson’s bid got a key boost when Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced his support Tuesday. Manchin, who faces re-election in 2018 in a state that backed Trump heavily in the presidential election, said Tillerson’s extensive business career “will bring a unique perspective to the State Department.”

The vote on Haley capped a day when the GOP-led panels endorsed Trump’s choices to lead the Transportation, Housing, and Commerce departments. Yet congressional Republicans criticized Democrats for not moving quickly enough on all of the president’s selections.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, forced a one-week delay – until Jan. 31 – of the committee’s vote on Trump’s attorney general nominee, Sen. 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.

Deliberations over two of Trump’s picks turned testy as both nominees faced questions from Democrats over their personal finances. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the president’s choice for health secretary, defended his decision to invest in health care companies as he testified before the Senate Finance Committee.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Trump’s nominee for budget director, South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, should be disqualified because he failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a babysitter more than a decade ago.

Trump’s choice for education secretary, 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.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved by voice votes Trump’s choices of conservative billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to run the Commerce Department and Elaine Chao to lead the Transportation Department.

Meanwhile, Trump has narrowed his choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy to three judges and said he expects to make his decision in the coming days.