President Obama’s nominee for a top anti-terrorism post cleared the Senate Banking Committee Thursday, after being held up since April.
Sen. Richard Shelby, the Banking Committee chairman fresh off a primary victory in his home state of Alabama, called the last-minute vote on the candidacy of Adam Szubin for under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at Department of the Treasury for Thursday morning, just before the Senate finished its work for the week.
The panel voted 14-8 to send Szubin’s nomination to the full Senate.
Szubin’s confirmation has been a priority for the Obama administration. He is currently serving in the counterterrorism role in an acting capacity.
“It is one of the most important counterrorism positions in our government,” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Tuesday in testimony in the Senate. “He is eminently qualified. I don’t know anyone who’s raised a question about his qualifications. He represents us around the world in some of the most difficult environments. The Senate should confirm him, and confirm him quickly.”
The banking panel did not advance any of Obama’s nominees in 2015, amid disagreements between the administration and Shelby. It has held one full hearing in 2016 as Shelby fought off conservative challengers back home.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called for Shelby to act on other pending nominations after the vote Thursday.
“The simple fact is that the Senate should have unanimously confirmed Mr. Szubin last spring instead of keeping him in limbo for almost an entire year,” Brown said in a statement provided by his committee office. “Mr. Szubin is well qualified for this important position and the full Senate should confirm him without further delay. I hope the committee will now act on the many other nominations that are still pending before it.”
Shelby has sheduled a hearing next week for Obama nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Mint.
Szubin’s appointment, however, was given extra urgency because of the rise of the Islamic State and the administration’s efforts to enforce sanctions on Iran.
