Obama highway safety chief confirmed

President Obama’s nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was confirmed by the Senate on the final legislative day of 2014 Tuesday evening. 

The upper chamber approved the choice of former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Mark Rosekind to lead the highway safety agency, which has come under fire for its handling of auto recalls by several car companies, on a voice vote, as lawmakers wrapped up business for the 113th Congress. 

Rosekind, who was tapped by Obama in November, will be the agency’s first full-time chief in nearly a year.

{mosads}The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been operating without a full-time chief since its former Administrator David Strickland resigned at the beginning of the year. 

Deputy Administrator David Friedman had been leading the agency in the interim.