The Senate has voted to confirm Joe Biden’s pick for Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Austin will be the first black Secretary of Defense.
According to Fox News:
The Senate on Friday confirmed President Biden‘s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, in a big bipartisan vote, marking the first time an African American will lead the Pentagon in U.S. history.
The vote was 93-2.
Austin is a former four-star Army general who served in the military for 41 years before retiring in 2016. He was the commander of the U.S. Central Command, where he helped lead the effort to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as our country’s 28th Secretary of Defense, and I’m especially proud to be the first African American to hold the position. Let’s get to work. pic.twitter.com/qPAzVRxz9L
— Lloyd Austin (@LloydAustin) January 22, 2021
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Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, backed Austin for the job. “I am very confident that Lloyd Austin will be a strong, capable civilian leader for the Pentagon at this critical time,” Inhofe said.
Austin was granted a waiver to be Secretary of Defense because he hasn’t been out of the military long enough. This same waiver was granted to Trump’s Secretary of Defense pick James Mattis.
