With Pence Breaking Deadlock, U.S. Senate Confirms Brownback’s Nomination

Kansas Republican Sam Brownback, one of the most unpopular governors in the country, barely survived a vote to confirm his bid for a big Trump administration job on Wednesday, as Vice President Mike Pence broke two ties that kept his nomination alive. “I’m glad to have the vice president in my corner,” Brownback told reporters seconds after Pence cast the tie-breaking vote. By the slimmest of margins, two dramatic party-line votes in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for Brownback’s confirmation to an at-large ambassadorship for international religious freedom, based in Washington, D.C.