President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead NOAA is once again headed toward Senate confirmation after the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee backed Neil Jacobs in a bipartisan 20-8 vote.
Jacobs passed Wednesday in an unusual repeat committee vote after Republican leaders returned several nominees who had already been forwarded to the full Senate because of procedural concerns with proxy or voice votes.
That’s after Democrats increased their scrutiny of Trump’s picks after the GOP decided to change the chamber’s confirmation rules to allow the en-bloc approval of numerous lower-level agency nominees.
Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) voted to support Jacobs along with fellow Democrats Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
