Pat Shanahan is the Pentagon’s new deputy under Defense Secretary Jim Mattis following a confirmation vote Tuesday by the Senate.
The overwhelming 92-7 vote caps a rocky trip through the Senate for the Boeing vice president, who helped fix the contracting giant’s troubled 787 Dreamliner passenger jet program and garnered the nickname Mr. Fix It.
Republicans blamed Senate Democrats for a weeks-long delay in the confirmation and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was sidelined from the vote due to treatment for a blood clot, threatened to hold up Shanahan’s nomination in the Armed Services Committee over vague testimony answers.
On Tuesday, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking Armed Services member, called Shanahan highly qualified for the job and he voted in favor of the confirmation, as did most other chamber Democrats. The confirmation was opposed by a small group of Democrats, including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and the independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont
Shanahan will now play a key role in leading the daily business of the Pentagon, and shepherding through the Trump administration’s plans for what it calls a historic military buildup in fiscal year 2019.
Shanahan’s predecessor, Bob Work, left the Pentagon last week after a brief formal ceremony.
