The streak is over. After 12 ‘nos’ Josh Hawley votes to confirm a Biden nominee
After voting against 12 of President Joe Biden’s cabinet-level nominees, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley finally found one who he could support.
He joined a 95-to-4 majority Tuesday to confirm Cecilia Rouse as chair of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers. She is the first woman of color to hold the position
Hawley’s office did not answer an inquiry Tuesday about why Rouse was the first nominee he deemed worthy of confirmation.
Rouse was a council member during former President Barack Obama’s first term. She also served on former President Bill Clinton’s National Economic Council, a separate federal panel.
“She is someone who’s devoted much of her research life to the very workers and families that are the most likely to be at risk in what has so far been a very K-shaped, or uneven, recovery,” Gene Sperling, who led the NEC under both Clinton and Obama, told The Washington Post of Rouse last month.
Rouse also has had a long career in academia, most recently as dean of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
The Kansas City region’s other senators — Missouri Republican Roy Blunt and Kansas Republicans Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall— backed her confirmation.
Until supporting Rouse, Hawley was the only senator to vote against each of Biden’s nominees.
Hawley’s series of nos are reminiscent of the votes taken by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat who turned thumbs down on 20 of 22 top Trump administration nominees in early 2017.
Gillibrand repeatedly pointed to the votes during her failed presidential bid. She dropped out of the 2020 race in August of 2019, several months before the Iowa caucuses. Hawley is also widely considered to have presidential ambitions.
Hawley has voted against 12 Biden nominees, more than any other senator. Potential 2024 rival Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz has voted against 11.
Marshall, Hawley’s Kansas City metro neighbor, has voted against eight nominees, the fifth most of any senator.
Unlike Marshall, who routinely releases statements explaining his reasons for voting for or against Biden’s nominees, Hawley has offered little explanation.
“I take them one at a time, if there is someone I think will be good to Missouri, that I can defend to my voters, somebody who I think is going to be good for the job, I’ll vote for them,” Hawley told CNN Monday.
Just hours before voting for Rouse, Hawley opposed confirmation of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo for secretary of Commerce. Her nomination passed by a vote of 84 to 15.
Hawley’s opposition to the bulk of Biden’s nominees comes after he led the failed effort to overturn the presidential election in the Senate.
Hawley’s previous votes included ones cast against historic picks. He was one of just two senators to oppose the confirmation of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a former general with a distinguished service record and the first African American to hold the role.
In addition to Austin, Hawley opposed Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen; Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg; Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack; Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona; Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm; Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough; Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas; UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
