The US Senate on Monday confirmed Wall Street banker Steven Mnuchin to be the next secretary of the US Treasury, overcoming fierce Democratic objection of yet another nominee to President Donald Trump's cabinet. Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, fills a crucial position in Trump's economic team. The new president has criticized opponents for delaying his nominees.
He was promptly sworn in at the White House by Vice President Mike Pence, in a ceremony also attended by Trump and Mnuchin's fiancee, Louise Linton, a Scottish actress. Trump praised his new Treasury chief as a "financial legend with a track record of success."
Democrats have put up roadblocks to nearly all of Trump's cabinet picks to date, a sign of the political rancor infusing a confirmation process that until recent years exhibited far more bipartisanship. Republicans, who maintain a majority in the Senate, have managed to hold a united front and confirm each nominee who has come to the floor for a vote.
Senators confirmed Mnuchin, an investment banker and Hollywood financier who also served as finance chairman of Trump's presidential campaign, on a party line vote of 53 to 48. Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only crossover vote. Mnuchin takes over a US agency with power over taxation, bank regulation, sovereign debt, and policies to combat corruption and terrorism finance.