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Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Wednesday voted to confirm two of President Trump’s nominees for diplomatic posts after briefly threatening to hold the nominations up over his concerns about frozen funds for a global health program.
Cornyn, in an interview with Semafor on Tuesday, said he would vote against Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano, longtime Trump allies, for two different ambassador roles, if he did not see evidence that the Trump administration was releasing funds it owed for the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR).
But during the Wednesday morning Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting to vote on those positions, Cornyn said the administration had assured him it would release every dollar owed to PEPFAR.
A Cornyn spokesperson confirmed his hearing comments to The Hill and said “he will be closely watching future action on PEPFAR to ensure they make good on these assurances ahead of a floor vote on these nominations.”
That program was established by President George W. Bush to distribute life-saving HIV and AIDS prevention treatment around the world. The Trump administration had paused the flow of funds to the program last year before restarting it, but groups who receive that money have said delays and cuts have still occurred.
Lake’s and Mastriano’s nominations were advanced out of the committee by a vote of 12-10, with all Republicans for and all Democrats against. They will now be sent to the full Senate for review, where they’re likely to be confirmed.
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