NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate on Tuesday [7-18-17] confirmed Patrick Shanahan to be the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, in a 92-7 vote.
The final vote sailed through the Senate, but it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Shanahan on Capitol Hill.
He was excoriated during his confirmation hearing last month by Sen. John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. McCain slammed Shanahan for a written answer on his questionnaire to the committee about providing weapons to Ukraine, and the Arizona Republican threatened to block Shanahan’s confirmation if he didn’t provide a better response.
‘Inexplicably, you responded by saying you’d have to look at the issue,’ McCain said at Tuesday’s hearing. ‘Not a good beginning. Do not do that again, Mr. Shanahan, or I will not take your name up for a vote before this committee. Am I perfectly clear?’
‘Very clear,’ Shanahan responded.
A week later, Shanahan provided 10 pages of ‘revised’ answers to the committee’s policy question, in which he stated that he supported providing lethal weapons to Ukraine.
His response was enough for McCain, and that cleared the way for his nomination to get through the Senate.
But McCain’s missive during the confirmation hearing is a sign that Shanahan still could face trouble on the Hill.”
-Jeremy Herb, “Senate confirms the Pentagon’s new No. 2,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 18, 2017 03:57pm