On Senate Floor Shaheen Continues Effort to Confirm Stalled National Security Nominees

Watch Senator Shaheen’s full floor speech here. 

(Washington, DC) – This afternoon, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) returned to the Senate floor to once again call for the confirmation of Adam Szubin to be Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes.  Shaheen called on the Banking Committee to move the nomination while discussing the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016. Shaheen noted that the confirmation of Mr. Szubin is important to give the Treasury Department the tools to enforce the sanctions against North Korea. Shaheen and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) have committed to returning to the Senate floor to call for the confirmation of stalled nominees until the unnecessary and irrational holds are lifted.

Adam Szubin was nominated 301 days ago to be the Treasury Department’s Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes. This position leads the policy, enforcement, regulatory, and intelligence functions to identify and disrupt the lines of financial support to international terrorist organizations, proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics, and other actors posing a threat to our national security or foreign policy.  This position is critical to ensuring the sanctions on Iran, North Korea, Russia and other bad actors are implemented.

Shaheen has prioritized highlighting the politically motivated obstruction of well-qualified nominees because their stalled confirmations threaten U.S. national security. Other qualified nominees awaiting confirmation include: Azita Raji, to be Ambassador to Sweden, Samuel Heins, to be Ambassador to Norway, Brian Egan, to be the Legal advisor to the State Department, and Ambassador Tom Shannon, to be Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the State Department.

Senator Shaheen is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee.