Senate Confirms OSTP, USAGM Leaders
The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Amanda Bennett as U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO and Arati Prabhakar as White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director. The chamber approved Bennett 60-36, with 12 Republicans in support. Senators voted…
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56-40 for Prabhakar, with 10 Republicans backing him. The chamber voted 60-37 Wednesday to invoke cloture on Bennett and 58-38 for cloture on Prabhakar (see 2209210043). Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., in a floor speech supporting Prabhakar noted the recent enactment of the Chips and Science Act (see 2208090062). The Chips and Science Act represents “a renewed commitment to domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing U.S. leadership in the next-generation chips technology,” Cantwell said: Prabhakar “has the exact experience we need to advise” President Joe Biden “on semiconductor manufacturing, on bringing the supply chain security that we need” in the U.S. “and on continued growth in science and technology jobs that come along with it.” OSTP strategies can help “our nation attract and keep the best and brightest and prioritize collaboration between academia and industry,” Cantwell said. The “partnership between the existing workforce and the workforce of tomorrow needs to grow. This is such a big important issue for us today” and Prabhakar “will help deliver a message that young women all across America need to be involved in the sciences to help our nation in the next phases of innovation.” USAGM hailed Bennett’s confirmation. She “has both the vision and experience to build on our progress, while equipping USAGM to anticipate and confront threats to independent media and reach audiences in need,” said acting CEO Kelu Chao: “This bipartisan confirmation underscores just how critical it is to Congress and our stakeholders alike that USAGM continue to deliver on its important mission. Now more than ever, people across the world are depending on USAGM’s fact-based news to triumph over increasing misinformation, disinformation, and censorship.”