Senate Committee Approves BIS Nominees, Reaches Tie on Sanctions Officials
The Senate Banking Committee this week approved the nominations for two senior Bureau of Industry and Security officials but reached a tie vote on two other nominees slated to oversee the Treasury Department’s sanctions work.
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The committee on Oct. 5 approved the nominations for Alan Estevez as BIS undersecretary and Thea Kendler as assistant secretary for export administration (see 2109210058), with only Bob Menendez, D-N.J., voting against Estevez. In an emailed statement, Menendez said he still has concerns about a Trump-era rule that transferred certain gun export controls from the State Department to Commerce. During his nomination hearing, Estevez declined to take a stance on the issue (see 2109210058 and 2001170030). "I was not satisfied with Mr. Estevez’s non-answers as to whether the Biden Administration was planning to fulfill President Biden’s campaign promise and finally reverse the Trump administration’s dangerous stripping of oversight authority of U.S. firearm sales," Menendez said. The nominations for both Estevez and Kendler were sent to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.
The committee voted 12-12 on Brian Nelson to be undersecretary of Treasury’s Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office and Elizabeth Rosenberg for assistant secretary of terrorist financing (see 2106220037). Committee Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, voted against the nominees because they objected to the Biden administration’s decision not to issue more sanctions against the Russia-backed gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 (see 2109150017). The nominations for both Nelson and Rosenberg will be sent to the full Senate without a recommendation from the committee.