There can only be one governor, Lombardi said. But with Raimondo more than halfway out the door, he said, the heads of state agencies don t really know right now who has the authority to make decisions. If you are going to do this, then you need to be on TV. You need to be answering questions [from] the press. If you are going to be the governor, then you need to be the governor 100%.
As president of the R.I. League of Cities and Towns, Lombardi added, we want to personally thank him for allowing us a seat at the table.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed s spokesman Chip Unruh said, “The governor has strong bipartisan support. If Senator Cruz persists, he will be defeated through a cloture vote. All he’s doing is seeking the limelight, delaying progress on addressing China, and jeopardizing a functioning government much as he did when he convinced Republicans to shut down the government and tried to default on the US’s financial obligations,” he said.
Leading up to the committee vote, Republicans sought to capitalize on what they saw as Raimondo s non-committal response, during her confirmation hearing, to a question about Huawei.
Cruz had asked her, Will you commit to ensuring Huawei and its subsidiaries and affiliates that are currently on the Entity List remain on the Entity List, should you be confirmed as the Secretary of Commerce?