Indian-American Suresh Kumar was among 27 nominees of the Obama administration who were confirmed on Friday by the United States Senate.
But at the same time before leaving for Presidential Day recess, the Senate has not cleared the names of at least a dozen Obama nominees.
"While this is a good first step, there are still dozens of nominees on hold who deserve a similar vote, and I will be looking for action from the Senate when it returns from recess," President Barack Obama said soon thereafter.
Obama warned that if the Senate does not approve/confirm his nominees, who are critical to run his administration, he reserves the right to use his recess appointment authority in the future.
Kumar, who served as a special adviser to the Clinton foundation and was a news anchor with Doordarshan from 1970 to 1985, was confirmed as the assistant secretary of commerce and director general of the US and Foreign Commercial Service.
President and managing partner of KaiZen Innovation, Kumar is known for his expertise of public-private partnership.
"At the beginning of the week, a staggering 63 nominees had been stalled in the Senate because one or more senators placed a hold on their nomination. In most cases, these holds have had nothing to do with the nominee's qualifications or even political views, and these nominees have already received broad, bipartisan support in the committee process," Obama said.
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