Following Floor Action by Shaheen, Senate Confirms Key National Security Nominees
(Washington, DC) The U.S. Senate today confirmed seven nominees for key national security positions, following a week of floor speeches by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and other Senators highlighting unacceptably long delays in their confirmation.
“I’m pleased that these nominees have been confirmed so they can get to work protecting our nation,” said Shaheen. “It was unacceptable for these nominees to face lengthy delays for purely political reasons at the expense of our safety. Unfortunately, this type of obstruction continues. For example, the President’s nominee to be Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, Adam Szubin, was nominated more than 300 days ago. The Senate's lack of action on his nomination undermines our work to dismantle financing for terror groups like ISIS and hold regimes like North Korea and Iran accountable for their actions.”
The nominees confirmed today were:
- Sunil Sabharwal to be US Alternative Executive Director of the IMF
- Azita Raji to be Ambassador to Sweden.
- Brian Egan to be Legal Adviser of the Department of State
- Samuel D. Heins to be Ambassador to Norway.
- John L. Estrada Ambassador Extraordinary to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
- Thomas A. Shannon to be an Under Secretary of State (Political Affairs).
- David McKean to be Ambassador to Luxembourg.
Shaheen spoke twice on the Senate floor in the past week to call for an end to the delays in confirming national security nominees. A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Shaheen amended legislation to sanction North Korea that passed the Senate this week, and the President recently signed her legislation sanctioning the terror group Hezbollah. Shaheen is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
