Senate panel advances Stefanik's nomination as U.N. ambassador

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday advanced Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to serve as ambassador of the United Nations with bipartisan support, with some Democrats objecting to her policies and protesting a foreign aid freeze.

Ms. Stefanik, New York Republican, is still a member of the House but would resign if confirmed.

The Foreign Relations panel approved Ms. Stefanik’s nomination via voice vote, but a few Democrats, including Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, registered their opposition.

“This is a close call for me,” Mr. Coons said, noting he was inclined to vote for Ms. Stefanik but decided not to in protest of a Trump administration freeze on foreign aid.

“I’m not going to vote for nominees until this is reversed,” he said. “And in her confirmation hearing, in response to a question from Senator [Brian] Schatz, she said she supported it. I hope we can still work together, and she will represent us well, but I will vote against her.”

Mr. Schatz, Hawaii Democrat, said the vote was a close call for him for the same reason, but he went the other way and supported Ms. Stefanik’s nomination.

“I’m going to vote for her because I told her I was going to vote for her, and my word is my bond,” he said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved a waiver of the foreign aid pause for life-saving humanitarian assistance, but Mr. Schatz said the money is still not flowing.

“On the ground in the places where five days ago we were describing medicine spoiling at the dock, clinics being closed, people being furloughed, the secretary’s amended memo has not effectuated the change that we are expecting it to,” Mr. Schatz said.

He acknowledged that some stop-work orders and furloughs were reversed after Mr. Rubio’s memo but said others remain in place amid confusion.

Mr. Schatz urged his colleagues to keep the bipartisan pressure on the State Department to ensure the remaining paused humanitarian aid efforts resume as soon as possible.

“Just to understand the urgency of the moment, four days ago I asked, ’How bad is this?’ And they said, ’Babies dying by the weekend,’” he said. “And so this is not the kind of thing that we can get back to on Monday.”

Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch, Idaho Republican, said implementation of the foreign aid pause and appropriate exemptions “is obviously a work in progress.”

“It was intended to underscore the fact that we’re going into debt at the rate of $1 trillion every 100 days. I think that has certainly been underscored as a result of this,” he said. “If you think this is bad, when our debtors come and want their money and we can’t pay it, that’s going to be really bad.”

Mr. Van Hollen said he opposed Ms. Stefanik in part over the foreign aid freeze, but also because he believes she’s “the wrong person for the job.”

“If you look at her record in the House, she voted to terminate U.S. funding for the U.N. On one occasion, she voted against funds to the United Nations. On another, she apparently didn’t vote. So her current position, which is that she thinks the United States should fully engage at the U.N., which I agree with, seems to be a nomination eve conversion.”

Mr. Van Hollen also said he disagrees with Ms. Stefanik’s position supporting the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization and her answers to questions on the conflict in the Middle East.

Mr. Merkley said he voted against Ms. Stefanik over her view that Israel has the right to occupy the entire West Bank.

“I think there have been such an unleashing of attacks on Palestinian settlements in the West Bank, and that this viewpoint perpetuates a cycle of war and hate, and is exactly the wrong approach for us to have an enduring peace and stability that will free the next generation from dealing with the same conflicts we’re dealing with now,” he said.

The Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, supported Ms. Stefanik’s nomination.

“I don’t agree with all of Representative Stefanik’s positions,” she said. “But I was pleased to hear her talk about her interest in supporting the work of the U.N. and trying to ensure that it operates better.”