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The Senate voted Monday to invoke cloture connected Elbridge Colby’s nomination, moving the nationalist information strategist 1 measurement person to confirmation arsenic undersecretary of defence for policy, the Pentagon’s No. 3 post.
The procedural vote, which limits statement and tees up a last confirmation vote, passed by a borderline of 53 to 49. Colby’s information precocious retired of the Armed Services Committee past month, overcoming skepticism from hawkish Republicans similar Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., during a closed-door vote.
The Senate voted connected cloture for Elbridge Colby, nether caput of defence for argumentation nominee for US President Donald Trump (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Colby, a co-founder of the Marathon Initiative and a erstwhile Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development nether the Trump administration, is champion known for his relation successful authoring the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which reoriented semipermanent subject strategy toward a large powerfulness contention with China.
He has agelong argued the U.S. subject needs to bounds its resources successful the Middle East successful a pivot to the Indo-Pacific region.
Colby has scored staunch backing from a fig of figures successful Trump world, expanding the unit connected GOP skeptics to get connected committee with his nomination.
VANCE VISITS CAPITOL HILL TO URGE SENATORS TO CONFIRM ELBRIDGE COLBY FOR PENTAGON NO. 3 POST
US Vice President JD Vance went to Capitol Hill to impulse senators to ballot for Colby (Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Vice President J.D. Vance paid a sojourn to Capitol Hill past period to connection enactment for his "friend" Colby.
"In truthful galore ways, Bridge predicted what we would beryllium talking astir 4 years down the road, 5 years down the road, 10 years down the road. He saw astir corners that precise fewer different radical were seeing around," Vance said astatine the time.
"If you look astatine his agelong vocation successful defence policy, helium has said things that, you know, frankly, alienated Democrats and Republicans. He's besides said things that I deliberation some Democrats and Republicans would hold with."
During the hearing, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., questioned Colby connected his previously stated position, "America has a beardown involvement successful defending Taiwan, but Americans tin past without it."
"Your views connected Taiwan’s importance to the United States seems to person softened considerably," Wicker told Colby.
Colby disputed that point, arguing helium had been sounding the alarm that the U.S.’ "military equilibrium has declined" successful narration to China.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., right, was astatine archetypal skeptical of Colby's nomination (Getty Images)
"What I person been trying to sprout a awesome flare implicit is that it is captious for america to absorption and alteration our ain forces for an effectual and tenable defence of Taiwan and for the Taiwanese, arsenic good arsenic the Japanese, to bash more," said Colby.
When pressed by Cotton during the hearing, Colby said helium believes Iran to beryllium an "existential" menace to the U.S.
"Yes, a nuclear-armed Iran – especially, Senator, fixed that … we cognize they’ve worked connected ICBM-range capabilities and different capabilities that would airs an existential information to the United States," Colby said.
He promised to supply "credible bully subject options" to the president if diplomacy with Iran fails.
It was a antithetic tune than he’d sung successful years past.
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"The lone happening worse than the imaginable of an Iran equipped with atomic weapons would beryllium consequences of utilizing unit to effort to halt them," Colby had said successful 2012.
"I would accidental a batch of what I was arguing against astatine the time, these conversations 15 years ago, a batch of the opponents I felt had a casual oregon successful immoderate cases adjacent flippant cognition towards the employment of subject force," Colby said. "That’s a batch of what I was arguing against. Was my wording ever appropriate, was my precise framing ever appropriate? No."
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