Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s confirmation as U.S. Commerce secretary sailed through the U.S. Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Wednesday on a 21-3 vote.
Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rick Scott of Florida, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, all Republicans, voted against Raimondo.
Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) prefaced the vote by saying he’s encouraged by Raimondo’s willingness to work with committee members on the range of issues pertinent to the Commerce Department.
“I do remain concerned about the governor’s reluctance to state unequivocally that she intends to keep Huawei on the on the department’s entities list,” Wicker said, referring to the Chinese telecommunications company. “Keeping Huwei on this list is important for the security of our networks, and I urge the governor and the administration to make its position clear.”
A bloc of U.S. House Republicans had urged the Senate to block Raimondo’s confirmation because of the Huawei issue.
But the 21-3 vote indicates broad support for her nomination, which could clear the full Senate as soon as later this week. But there’s growing uncertainty about the timing, after top Senate Republicans said nominees may not get a vote until after the impeachment hearing of former President Donald Trump.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) praised Raimondo’s experience in the private and public sector, singling out the governor’s Real Jobs RI initiative as something that, the senator said, reduced unemployment in Rhode Island.
“I think that will give her a great deal of insights to the many challenges facing our economy, the competitive of businesses, the challenges of the information age and what we need to do to help skill a workforce to be able to take advantages of that economy of the future,” Cantwell said.
Raimondo testified in a confirmation hearing before the Senate committee on January 26.
Cantwell said she is excited that Raimondo, as the governor of a coastal state, understands “the important issues of the maritime issues before this committee, particularly NOAA’s [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] issues on science, weather, forecast, fisheries management, coastal restoration, NTIA [National Telecommunications and Information Administration] spectrum management, and this research and standard-setting, so the department’s role supporting trade and many other issues are focused on within that sector.”
Lt. Gov. Dan McKee is poised to succeed Raimondo as governor of Rhode Island.
Ian Donnis covers politics for The Public’s Radio. He can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. Sign up here for his weekly RI politics newsletter.
