Rex Tillerson Has Just Been Confirmed as Secretary of State

The 56-43 vote went largely along party lines, but got some Democratic support, including from Sens.

Tillerson, 64, takes over a department that has already shown its distrust of Trump’s initial foreign policy.

“In the past 50 years, the most contentious confirmations for secretary of state were those of Condoleezza Rice in 2005, who passed by a vote of 85 to 13, and Henry Kissinger in 1973, who was confirmed 78 to 7”, the Times notes.

Others suggested that Mr Tillerson prioritised “narrow business interests” ahead of “core national security interests” during his confirmation hearing last month. Supporters of Tillerson see him as an experienced businessman who has no illusions about the world.

Tillerson’s ties to Russian Federation and his stand on sanctioning Moscow have been a point of contention.

Senate Democrats had tried, but failed, to delay the vote because of Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries and temporarily halting the entry of refugees.

Tillerson acknowledged the hotly contested presidential election and differences of opinions among the State Department, which Hillary Clinton once led. The former Exxon Mobil CEO managed to quell doubts from top Republicans, but is sure to face scrutiny from still-skeptical lawmakers as Secretary of State. Less than two weeks into office, Trump has strained traditional alliances with Mexico, Australia, Germany and Japan, ramped up tension with Iran over a ballistic missile test, and signed an executive order limiting entry to the USA from seven mostly Islamic nations that drew global condemnation.

Of those nominees, the choice of former Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the Central Intelligence Agency drew the most opposition from Democrats.

The seats reserved for the 10 Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee were empty as Wednesday’s meeting to discuss to nomination of Scott Pruitt was called to order.

On Wednesday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Sen.

Tillerson’s nomination was controversial.

The Indiana Democrat is under intense pressure over his votes for Trump’s nominees.

Sens. Susan Collins of ME and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both say they can not support DeVos, a wealthy Republican donor and school choice activist. “Let us extend respect to one another, especially when we may disagree”. It may be unsurprising then that every major environmental group put out a statement denouncing Tillerson within minutes of his confirmation.

Tillerson has not made his views known on Trump’s executive order, but the White House’s response was uncompromising.

Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Schiff anxious that the ultra-right actions and statements of the Trump administration were “radicalizing Democrats”, and that the party’s main task was to keep the protests against the new government under control.

Trump had suggested that he would defend North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies only “if they fulfill their obligations” to the US. “The more radical the administration is, the more radicalized our base becomes, which just feeds the Breitbart crowd, and who knows where that ends”, he said. He’s a moderate Democrat up for re-election in 2018 in a state Trump carried by 19 percentage points.