Howard Lutnick Is Confirmed as Commerce Secretary

The Senate voted 51-45 to confirm Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, putting in place a billionaire Wall Street veteran turned avowed protectionist to lead the president’s global trade agenda. The former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm, ran the personnel operation for Trump’s presidential transition. Lutnick, age 63, took the reins at Cantor in 1991. He stepped down following the confirmation vote. President Trump has said the secretary will lead the second-term trade portfolio as well as oversee an agency of roughly 47,000 employees. Its responsibilities range from economic sanctions to weather forecasting. Lutnick was confirmed after a relatively routine nomination hearing conducted by the Senate Commerce Committee. He pledged to divest himself of his personal stocks and business holdings to avoid conflicts of interest. He also promised to uphold the agency’s core functions. He committed to disbursing funding under the 2022 Chips Act to bring more semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S., though he hinted he might seek to alter some Biden administration stipulations that recipients provide child care and other services for employees. He cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in a 16-12 vote. Only one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), voted to advance his nomination.