Senate confirms Gina Raimondo for commerce secretary

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The Senate voted 84 to 15 Tuesday to confirm former Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as President Biden's commerce secretary. 

In her position, Raimondo will oversee agencies such as the National Weather Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Census Bureau, and the Patent and Trademark Office. Raimondo resigned as governor Tuesday in order to assume her new post. 

Raimondo, a venture capitalist, has served as governor of the nation’s smallest state since 2015. She’s been a proponent of cutting taxes and touts that her administration has cut 8,000 pages, or 30 percent, of state regulations. But even so, Rhode Island has continuously been ranked as one of the worst states to do business throughout her administration by CNBC's annual list of "America's Top States for Business."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, earlier had put a hold on the Democratic governor’s vote because he believed Raimondo had not taken a harsh enough stance against Chinese telecom giant Huawei. 

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He was given 30 minutes to speak at 12:15 p.m. EST ahead of the vote. He said that Raimondo’s nomination represents a "steady and systematic embrace of communist China" by the Biden administration."

"Huawei is unabashedly an espionage agency for the Chinese Communist Party and must remain on the Entities List," Cruz wrote on Twitter ahead of the vote. "Governor Raimondo’s refusal to commit to keeping Huawei on this list speaks volumes as to how she would act if confirmed as Commerce Secretary."

Companies on the Entity List are subject to licensing requirements in order to export to the U.S. certain products.

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Raimondo, during a confirmation hearing last month, said she would review the policy with Huawei and "make an assessment as to what’s best for American national and economic security."

Cruz prodded further in written questioning about Huawei’s standing on the "entity list." 

Raimondo responded in a written response that she has "no reason to believe that entities on those lists should not be there.

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"With respect to Huawei, let me be clear: telecommunications equipment made by untrusted vendors is a threat to the security of the U.S. and our allies," Raimondo said, citing "Huawei’s ties to China’s military, human right abuses, and theft of intellectual property."

Cruz was still unsatisfied, leading to the hold in her nomination.