Waltz nomination overcomes Rand Paul hurdle

Politico

7 days ago

Mike Waltz's nomination to serve as UN ambassador has cleared a key hurdle, after Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republicans found a way to overcome a blockade from one of their own members.
The panel voted 12-10 to advance the nomination Thursday, with ranking member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) siding with GOP members to overcome opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that had derailed committee plans to vote on Waltz the day before.
Paul told members of the panel that he was willing to help move Waltz out of committee with no recommendation, instead of favorably. Other Republicans on the committee, however, were loath to go that route, because it would be viewed as a blemish on Waltz's record.
Waltz is already under scrutiny for using an insecure messaging platform to discuss war plans, which cost him his job as President Donald Trump's national security adviser earlier this year.
Shaheen agreed to vote in favor of Waltz to allow Republicans to move forward with a favorable recommendation — a sign of bipartisan goodwill toward Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho) but not to be construed, said the Democratic lawmaker, as meaning she'd necessarily vote for Waltz's confirmation.
She said Thursday she disagrees with some of Waltz's positions, but she would support him in committee because he 'represents a moderating force within the administration.' She elaborated in a subsequent statement how Waltz has challenged administration officials who would prefer to exercise a more restrained U.S. foreign policy posture around the world.
'That said,' Shaheen said during the Thursday markup, 'I do intend to hold him accountable through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's oversight role.'
Shaheen also said the Trump administration had committed to distributing $75 million in 'life saving' global assistance.
Waltz was removed as national security adviser in May following reports that he added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to a Signal chat with top administration officials, where sensitive attack plans to strike Houthi militants were shared by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Democrats at his confirmation hearing slammed Waltz for claiming no classified information was sent in the chat and for his misleading claims about how Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the chat.
Waltz, a former House Republican lawmaker from Florida who had been a Trump campaign national security surrogate, had already rankled other top administration officials and allies , including chief of staff Susie Wiles and far-right activist Laura Loomer.
Paul's decision to seek to briefly derail Waltz's nomination defied expectations of a full Republican embrace of Trump's pick to be U.N. ambassador. It also suggests that some corners of the GOP are still very unhappy with the aftermath of the Signalgate scandal and the administration's hawkish direction on many foreign policy matters to date.