The Senate voted 55-44 Tuesday to confirm Justin Muzinich, a key architect of President Trump’s tax cut plan, as deputy secretary of the Treasury, the department’s No. 2 position.
The confirmation comes a day after Senate Republicans broke a Democratic filibuster on the nomination by a 54-43 vote. Democrats angered over Trump’s tax policy held up Muzinich’s nomination for months, following a party-line 14-13 Senate Finance Committee vote in July. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., placed a hold on the nomination but relented on Monday.
The deputy secretary position has been empty since Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was confirmed last year. Trump’s previous nominee, Goldman Sachs executive James Donovan, withdrew from consideration last year. Republicans argued the holdup was undermining the department’s ability to do its job properly.
“As the Treasury Department continues its work implementing the new tax code … it is more important than ever that the deputy secretary position be filled,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said prior to Monday’s cloture vote. Tuesday’s vote was held without debate.
Muzinich, 40, is a Harvard MBA- and Yale-educated lawyer and has been viewed as a moderate voice inside the department. On Wall Street, he worked as a banker at Morgan Stanley and as president of Muzinich & Company, an investment firm and family business founded by his father. He has served in the Treasury Department since February 2017 as counselor to the Treasury secretary, a position that doesn’t require Senate confirmation.
