U.S. Senate confirms Tillerson as secretary of state - One America News Network

I am thankful that the US Senate just confirmed Rex Tillerson as Secretary of the Department of State. This comes on the heals of them confirming Elaine Chao as Secretary of the Department of Transportation yesterday.
Kudos to those 53 senators who voted to confirm both these nominees.
I am especially glad that the Secretary of State has now been confirmed. Along with Secretary of DoD, Secretary of DHS and director CIA we now have the primary department heads responsible for domestic and international security and foreign affairs.
Image: FILE PHOTO - Rex Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, smiles during his testimony before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be U.S. secretary of state in Washington, U.S. January 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
"U.S. Senate Confirms Tillerson As Secretary Of State
February 1, 2017
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate confirmed Rex Tillerson as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state on Wednesday, filling a key spot on the Republican’s national security team despite concerns about the former Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N> chief executive officer’s ties to Russia.

In the vote, 56 senators backed Tillerson, and 43 voted no. The tally was largely along party lines, with every Republican favoring Tillerson, along with four members of the Democratic caucus, Senators Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin and Mark Warner as well as Angus King, an independent.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons did not vote.

Senate Democrats had tried, but failed, to delay the vote because of Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries and temporarily halting the entry of refugees.

They said they wanted to ask Tillerson more questions about the issue after Trump signed the order on Friday.

Senators had also expressed concerns over Tillerson’s ties to Russia after the executive spent years there working for the oil company. Some faulted him for failing to promise to recuse himself from matters related to Exxon Mobil businesses for his entire term as secretary of state rather than only the one year required by law.

Republicans said they thought Tillerson would be a strong leaders as the country’s top diplomat. They also said it was important to fill key slots on Trump’s national security team quickly." @COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Christopher Mueller Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT John " Mac " McConnell SGT Robert George SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright SSgt Robert Marx] TSgt Joe C. Maj Marty Hogan PO2 Ed C.