Senate confirms No. 2 official at Interior

Republicans relented and allowed the Senate to confirm President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 job at the Interior Department on Wednesday. David Hayes, an environmental lawyer, was confirmed by voice vote after the GOP senators who had opposed his nomination said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had promised to review a recent decision to revoke 77 oil and gas leases in Utah. Last week, Republicans kept the Senate from reaching the 60 votes needed for Hayes to advance past a filibuster, making him the first of Obama's top-level nominees to be sidetracked on the Senate floor. Hayes, picked by Obama to serve as deputy secretary of the Interior Department, held the same post during the last three years of the Clinton administration. He also led Obama's natural resources transition team, responsible for naming a new Interior Department chief...AP