Steven Mnuchin was confirmed by the Senate late Monday as U.S. Treasury secretary.
The 53-47 vote was mostly along party lines with one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voting to approve Mr. Mnuchin.
Mr. Mnuchin's confirmation was opposed by Democrats, including those on the Senate Finance Committee who took the unusual step of boycotting a Feb. 1 vote to send the nomination to the Senate floor for final approval.
Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, praised Mr. Mnuchin's financial expertise and his commitment to work with Congress on tax reform and economic stimulus measures, including infrastructure spending.
During Senate debate of the nomination on Friday, ranking committee member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called him “yet another nominee who has the ethics alarm bells sounding” related to Mr. Mnuchin's role as CEO of OneWest Bank, which bought subprime lender IndyMac. “Aside from the president himself, nobody in America has greater influence over our economic future than the United States Treasury secretary,” Mr. Wyden said.
Mr. Mnuchin, who also was a former Goldman Sachs Group executive and co-founder of Dune Capital Management, served as President Donald Trump's national campaign finance chairman.
