Senate panel advances Waltz nomination for UN ambassador with Democratic support

The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday helped advance President Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations after opposition from Republican Senator Rand Paul (Ky.) delayed a vote. 

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the committee, voted with Republicans to advance Trump’s former national security adviser, Mike Waltz, after securing a commitment from the administration to distribute $75 million in lifesaving assistance. 

Waltz’s advancement out of the committee means he can now be scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor. 

Shaheen said that while she disagrees with Waltz on some issues and raised concern about his role in using the Signal messaging app to discuss attack plans in Yemen, she views him as a “moderating force” within the administration, criticizing Vice President Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as people who want to “retreat from the world."

“I think we’re better off having someone like Mike Waltz present. That is particularly true when you consider the alternatives to Mr. Waltz as a nominee,” she said.

Shaheen was making a veiled reference to some of Trump’s more controversial allies carrying out diplomacy, like his envoy for special missions Richard Grenell.  

“As Mr. Waltz knows, I intend to hold him accountable through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s oversight role in the months and years ahead," the New Hampshire Democrat continued. "And I welcome the Administration’s commitment to distribute $75 million of lifesaving assistance."

The committee voted 12-10 to advance Waltz’s nomination, with Paul the lone Republican senator opposing Trump’s nominee. Paul criticized the former Florida lawmaker during his confirmation hearing for a 2020 vote to constrain Trump’s ability to bring troops home from Afghanistan, while he was serving in Congress.

“When it comes to ending a war, you voted with [former Wyoming Republican Rep.] Liz Cheney and the others to say that the president couldn't end the war,” the Kentucky senator said. 

Trump nominated Waltz as U.N. ambassador after choosing to keep his first nominee, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), in the House to preserve the slim GOP majority. Waltz’s nomination also served as a small rebuke for his role in the Signal scandal — when he used the commercial messaging app to discuss war plans against the Houthis in Yemen with the president’s senior officials and mistakenly invited a journalist into the conversation. 

And while Democrats questioned and criticized Waltz over the Signal scandal during his confirmation hearing, the former Green Beret and lawmaker was engaged on substantive topics about the U.S. role at the U.N. with an eye towards confirmation.