U.S. Senate Confirms Trump Diplomatic and BLS Commissioner Nominees

The U.S. Senate voted 51‑47 to confirm 74 of President Donald Trump’s nominees for government posts. The slate includes 11 ambassadors to foreign nations—among them envoys to Australia, Norway and Brazil—and five additional ambassador‑rank appointments, filling a fraction of the more than 100 vacant diplomatic posts left after the previous administration’s recalls. Six nominees were approved for senior State Department roles overseeing the Middle East, Europe and the Western Hemisphere.

A notable snag involves the nomination of Florida politician Daniel Perez as ambassador to Brazil. Brazil has withheld formal approval, prompting the United States to revoke the visa of Brazil’s ambassador in Washington, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, after Brazil denied visas to two American diplomats. The dispute has heightened tensions between Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In a separate confirmation, career economist Brett Matsumoto was approved as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a move aimed at restoring confidence in the agency after the prior commissioner was dismissed over alleged data‑handling concerns.