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Finance Committee recesses without vote on two administration nominees
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Summary
The Senate Finance Committee heard remarks on the nominations of William Kimmitt for Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade and Kenneth Keyes for Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, but recessed without conducting a vote and agreed to reconvene off the floor to vote later.
The Senate Finance Committee recessed a morning hearing after brief remarks on the nominations of William Kimmitt, nominated to be Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade, and Kenneth Keyes, nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and agreed to notify members of a later time and place to conduct the vote.
The nominations drew short statements summarizing each nominee's priorities and sharp criticism from the committee's ranking member. William Kimmitt spoke about his mission to have the International Trade Administration "be a champion for American workers and industries," according to the hearing record. Kenneth Keyes described his focus on tax policy and said he supported “permanently extending and building on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to prevent a more than $4,000,000,000,000 tax hike and deliver certainty and stability to American families and businesses,” as reported in the hearing.
Committee leadership signaled differing votes ahead of any formal tally. The Committee Chair said he would "be voting in favor of both nominees and I encourage all my colleagues on the committee to do the same," and the committee agreed to recess and reconvene off the floor to hold the vote at a time to be announced. Senator Wyden, identified in the record as the committee's ranking member, delivered an extended critique of the nominees and the administration's policy direction, calling the nominees' likely roles central to what he described as a "destructive and damaging economic agenda" and saying he would vote against the confirmations.
Senator Wyden's remarks included broader policy criticism: he said recent trade actions have left workers and businesses "in limbo" and argued the nominees would play key roles in implementing the administration's trade and tax priorities. The hearing record shows no formal roll-call vote took place before the recess; the committee recorded that members would be notified of a later time and location to complete the votes.
The committee took no final action on either nomination during the public portion of the hearing. Members will be notified when the committee reconvenes off the floor to vote to report the nominations to the full Senate.
