Senate moves ahead with two State nominees

The Senate on Friday afternoon approved the nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, and set up another State Department nomination for next week.

{mosads}Senators voted 74-17 in favor of Higginbottom. Immediately afterward, they voted 54-36 to end debate on the nomination of Anne Patterson to be assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

These are the last roll-call votes in the Senate this week. The next vote will be late Monday afternoon to confirm Patterson.

The Senate had planned to stay in session through late Saturday night, but Senate leaders agreed to delay additional nomination votes until Monday.