Devex: Gayle Smith’s bid to run USAID hits a snag
“In April, Gayle Smith was nominated by U.S. President Barack Obama to serve as the next administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development … But … sources close to the process tell Devex that Smith’s confirmation is in trouble. … Smith had a speedy and relatively smooth hearing June 17 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but multiple sources indicated to Devex that Florida senator and presidential hopeful Marco Rubio noted her questionnaire response [to a query about the Helms amendment] and raised it with other Republican members of the committee. This resulted in a postponement of an initial business meeting, originally scheduled for late June but now slated for later this month…” (Anders, 7/20).