WASHINGTON – Alabama’s senators, Republican Richard Shelby and Democrat Doug Jones, were united this week on nominees who went to the Senate for confirmation.

The Senate approved nominees Richard Clarida for Federal Reserve vice chairman; Lynn Johnson as assistant secretary for family support at the Department of Health and Human Services, who oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement; Joseph H. Hunt as assistant attorney general in the Civil Division; and Isabel M. Patelunas, as assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of the Treasury.

Here’s a breakdown of the votes during the week ending Aug. 31. The House was in recess.

Senate

Richard Clarida, Federal Reserve vice chair

Voting 69 for and 26 against, the Senate on Aug. 28 confirmed Richard A. Clarida, a managing director of the investment firm PIMCO, to a 14-year term on the Federal Reserve Board and four-year term as vice chairman. Clarida was an assistant secretary of the Treasury in the George W. Bush administration and has held teaching positions at Yale and Columbia universities. Three of the seven positions on the Fed board remain unfilled after the addition of Clarida.

Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, said Clarida “has a breadth of private sector, government and academic experience involving both monetary policy and financial markets. … Such expertise will be especially important as the Fed continues to wind down its balance sheet and raise interest rates.”

Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said the Fed needs “strong financial watchdogs, not lapdogs. We need individuals who have their own ideas on the causes and impacts of the financial crisis and who take seriously their role to protect taxpayers and homeowners from Wall Street abuse. I am not confident that is the case with this nominee.”

A yes vote was to confirm Clarida.

Alabama: Voting yes: Richard Shelby, R, Doug Jones, D.

Voting no: None.

Lynn Johnson, family and children’s official

Voting 67 for and 28 against, the Senate on Aug. 28 confirmed Lynn A. Johnson as assistant secretary for family support at the Department of Health and Human Services. Her duties will include overseeing the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is now attempting to reunify hundreds of migrant children and parents separated at the southern border under the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Johnson had been head of human services in Jefferson County, Colorado.

Ron Wyden, D-Oregon., said: “There is a lot of work left to be done reunifying the families that were broken apart as a result of (the administration’s) `zero tolerance’ policy. I believe Lynn Johnson will be an improvement … but you can bet my colleagues and I are going to go to every length to hold her to the commitments she has made.”

No senator spoke against the nominee.

A yes vote was to confirm Johnson.

Alabama

Voting yes: Shelby, Jones.

Voting no:  None

Joseph Hunt, assistant attorney general

Voting 72 for and 23 against, the Senate confirmed Joseph H. Hunt as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, where he will direct a 1,100-lawyer unit that litigates cases on behalf of the presidency and more than 100 federal agencies.

Hunt served as chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and led the department’s Federal Programs Branch, among other assignments in a 20-year career at Justice.

There was no debate on the nomination on the Senate floor. Sessions praised Hunt as “uniquely qualified to lead the department’s largest litigation division,” while Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, in a press release, took issue with Hunt’s role in policies including the firing of FBI Director James Comey and ending Obama administration protections of the undocumented immigrants known as dreamers.

A yes vote was to confirm the nominee.

Alabama

Voting yes: Shelby, Jones.

Voting no: None.

Isabel Patelunas, assistant treasury secretary

Voting 75 for and 20 against, the Senate on Aug. 28 confirmed Isabel M. Patelunas, a 29-year Central Intelligence Agency employee, as assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of the Treasury. She will direct a post-9/11 unit that tracks the international flow of money as it affects American security, helping, for example, to administer U.S. economic sanctions and disrupt the financing of terrorist organizations and drug cartels. At the CIA, Patelunas served as director of the Advanced Analysis Training Program and deputy director of the Office of Middle East and North Africa Analysis, among other positions.

There was no debate on the nomination on the Senate floor.

A yes vote was to confirm Patelunas.

Alabama

Voting yes: Shelby, Jones.

Voting no: None.

THIS WEEK

House and Senate schedules for the week of Sept. 3 were to be announced.