McConnell opposes Elbridge Colby nomination while three Democrats vote to confirm

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Democratic support for his nomination was unexpected, given Colby’s foreign policy record

By Emily Jacobs, Marc Rod

The Senate voted on Tuesday morning to confirm Elbridge Colby as undersecretary of defense for policy, capping off a nomination process that highlighted fissures in the Republican Party on U.S. policy toward Iran and the Middle East. 

Ultimately, every Republican other than Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) fell in line behind Colby while three Democrats, Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), broke with their party to support Colby. He was confirmed by a 54-45 vote. 

The Israeli prime minister largely avoided questions about Iran’s nuclear program, viewing it as a sensitive subject.

Read more...

Distancing itself from the administration’s tactics to combat campus antisemitism, the group said that funding cuts should be ‘tools of last resort’.

Read more...