Senate

Senate confirms Scott Brown as ambassador to New Zealand

by Jordain Carney - 06/08/17 3:17 PM ET

The Senate easily confirmed former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) to be President Trump’s ambassador to New Zealand on Thursday.

Senators voted 94-4 on their former colleague, who was considered a lock for the position. Democratic Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii) and Kamala Harris (Calif.) voted against the nomination.

Brown was unseated in 2012 by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). He ran unsuccessfully for Senate in New Hampshire against incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2014.

{mosads}Both Shaheen and Warren voted for Brown’s nomination. Warren congratulated Brown on his nomination in April, tweeting that he would “make the people of MA proud.”

The former senator is the sixth ambassador of Trump’s confirmed to be by the Senate, according to The Washington Post and Partnership for Public Service.

Trump has blamed Democrats for slow-walking his political nominees and recently urged the Senate to approve more of his picks.

.@foxandfriends Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors. They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

Democrats can’t block a nominee without GOP support, but they have slowed confirmation for many of Trump’s nominees and have forced even sub-Cabinet picks to overcome procedural hurdles.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) fired back at Trump on the Senate floor saying he was to blame for the pace of nomination votes.

“If the president is looking for someone to blame on the slow pace of confirmations, he needs only to look in the mirror,” he said.

Tags Chuck Schumer Elizabeth Warren Jeanne Shaheen Kirsten Gillibrand