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TOP VOTES
Anatomy of a Vote
Dan Coats Confirmation
After the vote, the Senate took up the confirmation
of national security adviser H. R. McMaster for
reappointment as an Army lieutenant general.
SENATE VOTES March 15, 2017
The DNI is a Cabinet-level position that was created
in 2004 following the intelligence failures leading up
to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
89.
. Confirmation of the Director of National
Intelligence
Confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nomination of
Dan Coats of Indiana to be director of national intelliintelli
gence. 85-12. R 48-1, D 36-10, I 1-1.
Coats was first appointed to the Senate in 1989 to
fill the seat vacated by Vice President Dan Quayle and
served until 1999. He served again from 2011 to 2017.
Rand Paul of Kentucky was the lone Republican to
vote against Coats.
Among the Democrats voting no were Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tammy
Duckworth of Illinois, Kamala Harris of California and
Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts.
From Retirement to Cabinet Member
Sometimes, it’s good to be a senator.
After the confirmation fireworks
of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos,
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and EPA
Administrator Scott Pruitt, this week’s
vote on the director of national intelligence proved to be a cakewalk for Dan
Coats, the former senator from Indiana.
He sailed through his confirmation
hearing and in the run-up to the vote,
protests were scant. Democrats abanSENATORIAL PRIVILEGE: Coats, a former senator,
doned their late-night, hold-the-floor
breezed through his confirmation vote.
sessions that had coincided with the premade an excellent choice in selecting Dan
vious nomination fights, and Coats moved
for this job,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch
quickly from a cloture vote to confirmation.
McConnell of Kentucky said ahead of the
A Republican, Coats served nonconsecuvote.
tive terms representing Indiana and retired
Democrats had nary a bad word: “I have
from the Senate at the end of 2016. He was
always found Dan to be fair-minded and
a member of the Intelligence and Finance
know him to be an advocate for strong overcommittees and, earlier in his tenure, the
sight of the intelligence community,” Mark
Appropriations Committee. Between his
Warner of Virginia said ahead of the vote.
two terms, he served as ambassador to GerOregon’s Ron Wyden appeared to lay on
many for President George W. Bush.
“It goes without saying that the president more love: “I do not know of a single U.S.
10
MARCH 20, 2017 | CQ
senator who does not like Sen. Coats.
He is honest, a straight-shooter and
gracious,” the Oregonian said. Wyden
joined a group of nine Democrats and
independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont
in voting against Coats. Wyden’s reason
had to do with the intelligence community’s resistance in providing information on how many Americans have been
surveilled under the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act.
Other Democrats voting against
Coats included Kirsten Gillibrand of
New York, who has voted against every
Trump nominee save for Veterans
Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and U.N.
Ambassador Nikki Haley.
The lone Republican to vote no was privacy advocate Rand Paul of Kentucky.
“I was ready to make a transition and
planned to move on to a new chapter of my
lifelong journey back home again in Indiana,” Coats said during his confirmation
hearing. “But as I have learned over those
34 years, life doesn’t always work out that
way.”
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
By JONATHAN MILLER