A Senate committee has narrowly approved the nomination of Lynn Johnson as assistant Health and Human Services secretary for family support despite protest by the panel's senior Democrat.
The position includes heading the agency that has custody over the children being held near the U.S.-Mexico border who were separated from parents seeking asylum.
The 16-11 vote by the Senate Finance Committee sends Johnson's nomination to the full Senate.
Earlier Thursday, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said he would vote against the Trump nominee.
Wyden said at a Finance Committee hearing that Johnson, who headed Colorado's child welfare program, "green-lighted a law allowing foster kids to be placed in juvenile detention facilities."
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