The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved President Trump’s pick for deputy defense secretary, moving the nomination to the full chamber.
Pat Shanahan, a Boeing executive, had a rocky confirmation hearing before the committee last week. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., threatened to hold up his nomination over his noncommittal responses about providing lethal weapons to Ukraine.
The committee’s voice vote moves the Pentagon’s would-be No. 2 closer to being approved in the Senate, though no floor vote had been scheduled Wednesday.
Shanahan is a Boeing vice president who helped improve Boeing’s troubled 787 Dreamliner program.
His nomination appeared in jeopardy when McCain hammered him repeatedly for what the senator felt were incomplete and inappropriate answers to committee questions.
McCain gave Shanahan time to revise a set of written responses to the Armed Services Committee.
If confirmed, Shanahan would become the seventh Pentagon appointee of the new administration. Bob Work, the deputy under former Defense Secretary Ash Carter in the last administration, agreed to stay on until his replacement is confirmed.
