Senate confirms Wilson as Air Force secretary

The Senate on May 8 approved President Trump's nomination of Heather Wilson to serve as Air Force secretary -- the first service secretary pick to move through the confirmation process.

Wilson, whose nomination was approved 76-22, is an Air Force Academy graduate and served as a Republican congresswoman from New Mexico from 1998 to 2009. Trump nominated her for the Air Force secretary post in late January, and the Senate Armed Services Committee approved her nomination April 5 with a 22-5 vote.

Senate Republicans including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (AZ) and Orrin Hatch (UT) praised Wilson in the hours leading up to the vote.

"In Congress, Dr. Wilson was a leading voice on national security," McCain said on the floor Monday evening. "She took on the tough issues from surveillance programs to sexual assault at the Air Force Academy and she earned the deepest respect of her colleagues on Capitol Hill, including mine."

However, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wrote in a release Monday evening that "Wilson's history of violating government contracting rules and intolerance of LGBT Americans in uniform disqualify her from serving as secretary of the Air Force."

The service did not comment by press time.