President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Jamieson Greer, advanced out of the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday.  The vote was 15-12, with all Republicans on the panel voting for Greer, as well as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

His appointment now moves on to the full Senate for final confirmation.

Greer, who previously served as chief of staff to former USTR Robert Lighthizer during Trump’s first term, has been credited with assisting in imposing tariffs on China and renegotiating the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico during the first administration. He is also a lawyer and Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps veteran with one deployment to Iraq.

Greer’s first confirmation hearing last week came amid new announcements that Trump would impose tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada.

If confirmed by the entire Senate, Greer will be responsible for pursuing U.S.-international trade agreements that align with President Trump’s agenda to support well-paying American jobs and bolster supply chain resilience, which includes boosting domestic manufacturing and industrial jobs and diversifying sources for essential goods and reducing dependence on foreign suppliers. 

‘If the United States does not have a robust manufacturing base and innovative economy, it will have little in the way of hard power to deter conflict and protect Americans,’ Greer said in last week’s hearing. ‘Trade policy can play an important role in ensuring that we have the economic security that leads to strong national security. I am convinced that we have a relatively short window of time to restructure the international trade system to better serve U.S. interests.’ 

Greer also noted he would seek out a balanced U.S. trade system with countries like Vietnam, which has a trade surplus in the country, to ‘have better reciprocity.’ 

The White House announced this month a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, citing an ‘invasion of illegal fentanyl,’ along with a 10% tariff on Canadian energy and all Chinese imports. Tariffs on China took effect Tuesday, while those on Mexico and Canada were delayed at least a month following border security talks.

House Republicans have released their framework for a massive conservative policy overhaul to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda, just as the Senate advances its own version of the plan.

House and Senate GOP lawmakers have been at odds over how to go about executing Trump’s policy goals, and an earlier delay by House GOP leaders to kick-start the process in their chamber frustrated Senate Republicans, who released a narrower version of the House’s proposal.

Both chambers are aiming to advance their proposals on Thursday, with the Senate beginning its process Wednesday.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use the budget reconciliation process to pass a broad range of Trump policy goals, from border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from two-thirds to a simple majority, it will allow the GOP to use their razor-thin majorities to get legislation signed into law with zero Democratic support, provided the measures included relate to the budget and other fiscal matters.

The House’s 45-page legislation directs $300 billion in new spending for homeland security, defense and the judiciary, while directing at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts for other areas of the federal government.

The text also calls for $4.5 trillion in new spending for the House Ways & Means Committee, aimed at extending measures in Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that are expiring at the end of this year.

The bill notably lifts the debt ceiling by $4 trillion – a key demand by Trump after projections showed the U.S. could run out of cash to pay its debts in the middle of this year if Congress does not act.

The bill would also set a goal of reducing mandatory spending by $2 trillion, with the caveat that a failure to find $2 trillion in savings would result in a reduction to the $4.5 trillion sum aimed toward Trump’s tax cuts. All sums are factored over a 10-year window. 

Senate Republicans had advocated for a two-bill strategy, arguing that separating border, defense and energy priorities from taxes would enable Trump to score a quick victory on issues that Republicans broadly agree on.

House Republicans are concerned that the significant political capital needed to pass a reconciliation bill with razor-thin majorities will mean Trump’s tax cuts will expire before the GOP can reckon with them this year.

The plan being advanced by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., includes new funding for border security and defense while offsetting those costs by rolling back green energy policies and other progressive Biden administration priorities.

Graham has dismissed multiple public pleas by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to allow the House to go first in the process. The House had delayed initial plans to advance a resolution last week after GOP fiscal hawks demanded deeper spending cuts than what leaders initially offered, between $300 billion and $600 billion.

Johnson said this week that Graham’s bill is a ‘nonstarter’ in the House.

It’s not clear as of Wednesday afternoon, however, whether all the House’s differences are resolved.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a fiscal hawk on the budget panel, told reporters that conservatives were still seeking additional items to be included in the resolution before the scheduled meeting to advance it on Thursday morning.

‘It’s dependent on what we add to it,’ Norman said when asked if he would support the bill on Thursday. ‘And it’s not just coming from me, it’s others too.’

He said of the public bill text, ‘We had to get this out as a skeleton. We’ve got to fill the skeleton in. And a lot of us have some real feelings, strong feelings, about what’s being included.’

Meanwhile, Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee are concerned that $4.5 trillion may not be enough to enact Trump’s tax policies over the next 10 years.

‘I have some concerns regarding Ways & Means not being provided with the largest amount to cover President Trump’s tax cuts – especially [State and Local Tax deduction (SALT)] relief and a tax reduction for senior citizens, which are both also priorities of mine,’ committee member Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. 

‘We will need to play with the parameters to see what we can come up with to satisfy members of our committee and conference,’ Malliotakis said.

House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, told reporters that Republicans needed to be realistic about their expectations.

‘We may not have every tax benefit. Everybody’s going to have to give,’ Moore said.

Russian missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Wednesday, killing at least one civilian, Ukrainian officials said. 

The barrage of ballistic missiles hit hours before Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited the Ukrainian capital, the first Cabinet-level Trump official to do so, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aide Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram. 

Bessent is visiting the city to meet with Zelenskyy and discuss President Donald Trump’s demand for access to $500 billion worth of rare Earth minerals as payment for U.S. military aid to Ukraine. He is also expected to talk about energy, having promised to ramp up sanctions on Russia’s oil sector. 

Zelenskyy said the recent attack proved Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in pursuing peace. 

Reporters from the French newswire AFP heard explosions ring out early Wednesday before discovering the body of one person killed, covered with a black plastic sheet. Zelenskyy said at least one person was killed, and four others were wounded – including a child. He said the attack damaged apartments and office buildings.

Russia’s defense ministry claimed it had conducted a ‘group missile strike’ on Ukrainian sites producing drones and added that all targets were hit. 

Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is expected to visit Kyiv next week as he hashes out a plan for peace with Russia. 

Kellogg, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are all traveling to Europe for the Munich Security Conference this week, when they will discuss peace options with Ukrainian and European officials.

In the region north of Kyiv, Chernihiv, local Gov. Vyacheslav Chaus said Russians had targeted critical infrastructure and at least two were wounded. 

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down six missiles and 71 of 123 drones, which included Iranian-designed Shahed attack vehicles.

The Senate voted Wednesday to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial nomination to serve as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, sending him on a path to final confirmation.

The vote to invoke cloture on Kennedy’s nomination ends debate and starts the clock ticking toward the final Senate vote on his confirmation.

The Senate agreed to advance the nomination by a party-line, 53-47 vote. 

Kennedy, the well-known vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump, needed a simple majority to advance to a final vote in the chamber, which Republicans control by a 53-47 majority.

Kennedy survived back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings late last month, when Trump’s nominee to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research.

During the hearings, Democrats also spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization he founded that has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for children.

With Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee voting not to advance Kennedy, the spotlight was on Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician and chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

Cassidy issued a last minute endorsement before the committee level vote, giving Kennedy a party-line 14-13 victory to advance his confirmation to the full Senate.

Cassidy had emphasized during Kennedy’s confirmation hearings that ‘your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,’ which left doubt about his support.

However, after speaking again with the nominee, Cassidy rattled off a long list of commitments Kennedy made to him, including quarterly hearings before the HELP Committee; meetings multiple times per month; that HELP Committee can choose representatives on boards or commissions reviewing vaccine safety; and a 30-day notice to the committee, plus a hearing, for any changes in vaccine safety reviews.

‘These commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to make America healthy again, is the basis of my support,’ the senator said.

Earlier this week, another Republican senator who had reservations regarding Kennedy’s confirmation announced support for the nominee.

‘After extensive public and private questioning and a thorough examination of his nomination, I will support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services,’ moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced on Tuesday.

Another Republican who was on the fence, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alalska, also voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination.

‘I continue to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies, which initially caused my misgivings about his nomination,’ Murkowski said in a statement.

But Murkowski added that Kennedy ‘has made numerous commitments to me and my colleagues, promising to work with Congress to ensure public access to information and to base vaccine recommendations on data-driven, evidence-based, and medically sound research. These commitments are important to me and, on balance, provide assurance for my vote.’

Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases.

The push is part of his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ campaign.

‘Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,’ Kennedy said as he pointed to chronic diseases. ‘And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.’

The 71-year-old scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination against then-President Joe Biden in April 2023. However, six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House.

Trump regularly pilloried Kennedy during his independent presidential bid, accusing him of being a ‘Radical Left Liberal’ and a ‘Democrat Plant.’

Kennedy fired back, claiming in a social media post that Trump’s jabs against him were ‘a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims.’

However, Kennedy made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism.

After months of criticizing him, Trump called Kennedy ‘a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share.’

Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS.

Idit Ohel, the mother of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel, urgently pleaded for President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of the remaining Oct. 7 captives held by Hamas amid fears the current ceasefire deal is disintegrating.

‘They have no more time. And please don’t go back to war. Please. Because if that happens, if we go back to war, the hostages could die. The hostages that are alive could die,’ she told Fox News Digital. ‘That’s what happened last time. Last time we saw that after the hostages came out and war started, so many hostages died and were murdered by Hamas. So we cannot let this happen. Please do everything in your power and do something for my son. He’s in the tunnels. He’s crying for help.’ 

Idit Ohel said she received confirmation that her son is still alive from released hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, two of the three gaunt, frail-looking Israelis forced to speak Saturday during a Hamas hand-over ceremony in Gaza. 

The mother said the released hostages, who were held with her son for part of their nearly 500 days in captivity, told her that Alon Ohel is unable to see out of an eye after being struck by shrapnel when Hamas was closing in on Oct. 7, 2023. Alon Ohel, a civilian, was attending the Nova music festival when terrorists attacked, and he took cover in a bomb shelter. Hamas pounded the shelter with grenades and gunfire, and he ‘was taken, wounded, with blood all over him,’ Idit Ohel said. 

Alon Ohel’s ancestors survived the Holocaust, including his great-grandfather who weighed just 30 kilos [about 66 pounds] when he was released from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Idit Ohel said. ‘So if he was alive today, he would probably die instantly just knowing that his great-grandson in the year of 2025 is starving,’ she said. ‘Alon has these genes. So he’s fighting. He’s fighting for his life every day.’ 

Under the deal, another three hostages were due to be released by next Saturday, but Hamas said Monday that the group would not let them go, accusing Israel of violating terms of the ceasefire agreement. 

Concerns that fighting will resume are rising. Trump has since said that Hamas must release all remaining 76 hostages by noon Saturday, or he would demand the ceasefire deal be canceled and ‘let all hell break out.’ Netanyahu backed the demand. 

Israeli media is reporting that Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is being dispatched to Israel and Qatar this week to prevent the ceasefire deal from unraveling. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected in Israel on Saturday. 

To Trump and Netayanhu directly, Idit Ohel said, ‘Do something and bring them home. Please. Please.’ 

‘Give him a chance. It’s unbearable. Something has to change. You have to do everything in your power to bring him home to me, to his family,’ she said. ‘There’s still hostages alive. There’s still hostages alive. Please. Please, do something.’ 

Idit Ohel said she learned her son is being held in tunnels without medical attention and little food and has been ‘tortured, chained and starved.’ 

‘It’s not humane. There’s so much food getting into Gaza, and he’s not getting any of it,’ she said.

‘Alon, right now as we speak, is still being not fed, sleeping on the floor, being chained, constrained. So he cannot move for 494 days,’ Idit Ohel said. ‘My son is important. My son is only an innocent civilian. He went to the Nova festival to have fun. He’s a pianist. He loves music. He did nothing wrong to nobody. We need to get him out now. He cannot continue. This is humanitarian.’ 

Days before Trump took office, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement. Former President Joe Biden said at the time that the first phase involved a ‘surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza’ – something Idit Ohel stressed her son is not getting. 

She said the International Committee of the Red Cross ‘have never seen Alon and have never seen any of the hostages – [he] didn’t get any treatment.’ 

‘Where is he? Why is he not coming?’ Idit Ohel added. ‘I do not understand it. I will never understand it. This is wrong. This is not moral.’ 

Ohel rallied thousands in Tel Aviv over the weekend on her son’s 24th birthday – the second birthday he has spent in captivity since the Oct. 7 attacks. 

‘I wanted to say happy birthday to my son. I couldn’t even talk [to him] and see and hear his voice,’ she said. ‘When I heard about his condition, I fainted … I haven’t been sleeping for days … I cannot control what Hamas is doing to my son.’ 

‘Every mother in this world. Think just for a second. If there’s one night that your son or daughter doesn’t eat, you can’t even live with yourself,’ Ohel added. ‘My son has not been getting food for 494 days.’

The mother also delivered a message directly to her son. 

‘If you’re listening to me, you know I love you and your father loves you. And we’re doing everything in our power to make sure that you’re home alive. You’re coming home. And there’s so many people all over the world and in Israel that are with you and are praying for you,’ Ohel said, asking fellow musicians to play songs in her son’s honor in the coming days. ‘And you are not alone, Alon. You are not alone.’ 

President Donald Trump continued his successful Cabinet confirmation roll on Wednesday, with Tulsi Gabbard officially being approved by the Senate to become his director of national intelligence (DNI). 

She became his 14th Cabinet confirmation following the 52-48 Wednesday vote. The vote was party-line, with the exception of former GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who opposed Gabbard. 

Despite an uphill battle before her first hurdle in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the former Democratic representative managed to come back and get key Republicans to support her in her bid to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies. 

With the coordinated and persuasive assistance of Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Vice President JD Vance, crucial senators who had lingering concerns about Gabbard were convinced to back her in the crucial committee vote last week, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Todd Young, R-Ind.

Her success came despite the impassioned plea of Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Democrats, who all opposed Trump’s DNI pick. 

‘We need leaders in the Intelligence Community and throughout government who are prepared to stand up to short-sighted attempts to attack our workforce at the expense of our national security. Unfortunately, I do not believe Ms. Gabbard is such a leader. Nor is she well-suited, by dint of experience or judgment, to serve as director of national intelligence,’ he explained on the chamber floor on Monday. 

But Warner failed to persuade any Republicans, and Gabbard’s nomination advanced past its last obstacle on Monday evening. The vote passed by a party-line margin of 52-46. 

Gabbard’s Senate comeback was achieved despite concerns regarding her past meeting with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, her previous FISA Section 702 stance and her past support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

Trump announced his selection of Gabbard for DNI in November shortly after being elected. ‘I am pleased to announce that former Congresswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Tulsi Gabbard, will serve as Director of National Intelligence (DNI),’ he said in a statement at the time. 

‘For over two decades, Tulsi has fought for our Country and the Freedoms of all Americans. As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties – She is now a proud Republican! I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength. Tulsi will make us all proud!’

Gabbard notably left the Democratic Party and subsequently endorsed Trump in the 2024 election. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Europeans this week that ‘realities’ prevent the U.S. from being its security guarantor, and to expect a drawdown of U.S. forces in the region. 

‘We are focusing on security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific,’ Hegseth told a meeting of a Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium on Wednesday. 

‘The U.S. is prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific. Recognizing the reality of scarcity and making the resourcing trade-offs to ensure deterrence does not fail. Deterrence cannot fail.‘

This was Hegseth’s first trip to the headquarters of the NATO alliance. 

The U.S. defense secretary called on Europe to ‘take ownership of conventional security on the continent.’

‘European allies must lead from the front,’ he went on. ‘Together, we can establish a division of labor that maximize our comparative advantages in Europe and Pacific, respectively.’

Hegseth said on Tuesday the U.S. has no active plans to draw down forces in Europe but remains committed to analyzing U.S. troop postures across the globe. Speaking at U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, he said the U.S. is committed to having a presence in Europe while emphasizing the continent should not rely on that presence for security. 

‘The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that defense,’ he said. ‘That’s common sense. You defend your neighborhood, and the Americans will come alongside you in helping in that defense.’

Roughly 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed across Europe, about a third of which are in Germany, according to Defense Department figures. Some 375,000 U.S. forces are assigned to the Indo-Pacific Command. 

During his first term, President Donald Trump began pulling thousands of troops out of Europe. 

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has begun to bolster its troop presence on the southern border. Some 1,500 more U.S. troops deployed to the southern border last week, bringing the total up to 3,600. 

Hegseth also said that any European peacekeeping forces sent to help Ukraine win the war against Russia must not be from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and would not be protected under Article 5, a provision that states an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. 

The defense secretary said the U.S. does not believe allowing Ukraine into NATO is a ‘realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.’

Hegseth also called on NATO countries to step up after Trump recently called on them to boost defense spending to 5%. 

‘The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.’

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy suggested that security guarantees for Ukraine without the U.S. are ‘not real security guarantees.’ 

‘There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans, and I always say no,’ he told The Guardian. ‘Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees.’

Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was looking into a limestone mine in Pennsylvania, where the cost-cutting organization says federal employee retirements are processed manually using a system that could take months. 

Musk told reporters about the mine on Tuesday during an appearance with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, as the president prepared to sign an executive order concerning the billionaire’s work leading DOGE.

‘And then we’re told this is actually, I think, a great anecdote, because we’re told the most number of people that could retire possibly in a month is 10,000,’ Musk said.

‘We’re like, well, what? Why is that? Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper,’ he continued. ‘It’s manually calculated and written down on a piece of paper. Then it goes down to mine and like, what do you mean, a mine?’

DOGE wrote on X that an old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, is where about 700 workers operate more than 230 feet underground to process about 10,000 federal retirement applications per month.

The applications are processed by hand using paper, and are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes, DOGE said.

The Washington Post described the facility as a ‘sinkhole of bureaucracy’ in a 2014 article. At the time, the report said the total spending on the retirement system was $55.8 million. 

Multiple attempts to digitize the system have been made since 1987, according to the report. Each attempt largely failed and was eventually scrapped, with reported costs totaling over $130 million.

Musk said the facility was started in 1955 and looks ‘like a time warp.’ He noted the slow processing speed, which DOGE says can take multiple months.

‘And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move, determines how many people can retire from the federal government,’ Musk said. ‘And the elevator breaks down and sometimes, and then you can’t, nobody can retire. Doesn’t that sound crazy?’

Musk said the flawed system of ‘carrying manila envelopes to, you know, boxes in a mine shaft’ could be remedied with ‘practically anything else.’

‘That’s an example, like at a high level, if you say like, how do we increase prosperity is we get people to shift from roles that are low to negative productivity to high productivity roles,’ he said.

In recent weeks, Democrats have largely criticized the work of Musk and DOGE to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending and trim the more than 2 million-person federal workforce.

Musk has pushed back, telling reporters Tuesday that ‘the people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get.’ 

President Donald Trump is on the cusp of seeing his 14th Cabinet member confirmed in former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. 

Gabbard is slated for a final Senate confirmation vote to be Trump’s director of national intelligence (DNI) on Wednesday morning, after the planned midnight vote was scrapped due to a snowstorm in Washington.

The 30 hours of post-cloture debate officially expired on her nomination just after midnight. 

Frequently, the debate between the cloture motion and the final vote is minimized in what’s referred to as a ‘time agreement’ between Republicans and Democrats. But with the controversial nature of Gabbard’s nomination and ongoing frustrations with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its government audit, no such agreement is expected. 

Gabbard is expected to be confirmed and has already amassed support from hesitant Republicans who voted against Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, requiring Vice President JD Vance to break the tie in the upper chamber. 

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who are often considered the conference’s moderate members, have both already come out in support of Gabbard. Both lawmakers voted against confirming Hegseth. 

Collins is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and voted in favor of the nomination, helping advance it to the full Senate floor. 

Gabbard also snagged the backing of key Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Todd Young, R-Ind., despite the latter being uncertain before the committee vote. 

Young is also on the Intel Committee and ultimately voted to advance her to the floor, but only after some prodding and discussions with Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Vance, who operated rigorous operations to ensure the nomination got through. 

Some concerns that followed Gabbard through her confirmation hearing were her past meeting with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, her previous FISA Section 702 stance and her past support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

But these worries were apparently quelled by her answers and the persuasive support of both Cotton and Vance.