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Senate Foreign Relations Committee reports 10 nominees to Senate floor; three decided by roll call
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Summary
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the morning of its business meeting approved 10 executive-branch nominees to be reported to the full Senate. Most were approved by voice vote; three—Andrew Puzder, Paul Kapoor and Luigi Rinaldi—were sent forward after roll-call votes.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved 10 executive-branch nominees and agreed to report them to the full Senate, taking voice votes on most nominations and holding roll-call votes for three high-profile nominees.
Committee members moved most nominations by voice vote, advancing candidates including Jacob Helberg to be Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment; Benjamin Black to be chief executive officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; Howard Bridal to be ambassador to Finland; Nicholas Merrick to be ambassador to the Czech Republic; Arthur Fisher to be ambassador to Austria; Roman Pipco to be ambassador to Estonia; and Stacy Feinberg to be ambassador to Luxembourg. The committee’s chair said the floor would be notified for those nominees after the voice results.
The committee took roll-call votes on three nominations the chair and ranking member had designated for record votes. Senator Jeanne Shaheen said she would vote against Andrew Puzder’s nomination to be Ambassador to the European Union, and told the committee, “I intend to vote against him.” The clerk announced the roll-call tally that sent that nomination to the floor with the committee’s recommendation: 12 yeas and 10 nays. Paul Kapoor, nominated for the position overseeing South Asian affairs at the State Department, was also reported to the floor after a roll-call vote; the clerk announced the yeas as 13 (noes not specified in the transcript excerpt). Luigi Rinaldi’s nomination to be ambassador to Uruguay cleared the committee on a roll call recorded as 12 yeas and 10 nays.
Several senators used the business meeting record votes to register policy objections or concerns. Senator Shaheen said she found some answers from nominees inadequate for the positions they were being considered for, and Senator Jeff Merkley spoke during roll-call proceedings to register his opposition to specific nominees. The chair noted members’ requests to have additional “no” votes recorded and said staff would accommodate those requests.
After the committee concluded the business portion of the session and completed the roll calls, the chair closed the meeting and the committee moved directly into a scheduled policy hearing on the 2025 NATO summit.
The committee record shows the nominations will be reported to the Senate floor with the committee’s recommendations; final confirmation will be decided by the full Senate.
