WASHINGTON – The Senate ended the debate over Mike Pompeo’s appointment to Secretary of State and confirmed the nominee and CIA Director in a 57 to 42 vote on Thursday.
The support for or against the nominee appeared divided along party lines during the debate, despite a discussion focused on the need for bipartisanship.
Sen. Ben Cardin (Md. – D), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass. – D), and Sen. Gary Peters (Mich. – D) expressed their concern with the nomination and their unwillingness to confirm Pres. Donald Trump’s appointee through vote.
Sen. Warren warned that a combination of Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton — a Trump appointee to a position that does not require Senate confirmation — will “fan the flames of war in President Trump’s foreign policy.” Both Pompeo and Bolton have a reputation for being hawkish.
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan. – R) and Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa – R) voiced their support for the nominee. Roberts called Pompeo “uniquely qualified” to fill “such a vital role in the cabinet”, and referred to his background as a graduate from both West Point and Harvard, as well as his time served as an officer in the army. Roberts also said the nominee can be diplomatic, despite Pompeo’s position against the Iran Nuclear Deal and the comparison he made between Iran and ISIS during a speech at a national security forum in October.
According to Cardin and Warren, Pompeo would be more divisive in the position of Secretary of State than diplomatic.
“One thing should be clear, that we want to be in the discussion with the international community,” and, in regard to Iran, Pompeo would isolate the United States from allies, said Cardin.
But election season has a way of bridging that party divide and democrats in states where Trump won by a wide margin are feeling the pressure to move closer to the center.
Six Democrat Senators crossed the aisle to confirm Pompeo’s nomination. Heidi Heitcamp (N.D. – D) — whose state was won by Trump in the 2016 election with 63 percent of the vote — was among them.
In an address following the vote, Majority Whip Sen. John Cornyn (Texas – R) noted growing tensions between the U.S. and countries such as Russia, China and North Korea, as well as the crisis in Syria, and criticized the senators who voted against Pompeo.
“The American people understand how precarious our situation is,” Cornyn said. “This is not a time for partisanship, hyper-partisanship or voting reflexively against everybody the President has proposed as a nominee.”
Roberts echoed Coryn’s point of view during the debate leading up to the vote.
“When there is a void, the world pays a price. That is why we need Mike and we need him now,” he said.
Pompeo may have gotten a head start on the job he had not yet secured when he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a diplomatic visit to the country at the beginning of April. According to Trump, the meeting between Pompeo and Kim wasn’t scheduled.
Pompeo was appointed by Trump following the President’s firing-by-tweet of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March.