With a vote of 61 to 36, the Senate confirmed Shalanda Young as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday. This confirmation makes Young the first Black woman to serve in the position, the New York Times reports. The agency will have now have permanent leadership for the first time in more than a year in preparation for the second budget of the Biden administration.

“I want to thank the president for the trust he has placed in me, as well as members of both parties in the Senate for their support,” Young said in a statement, noting that she was “incredibly honored.”

“Together with the extraordinary team at O.M.B., we will continue to build on the historic progress our country has made, advance the president’s ambitious agenda and deliver results for the American people,” she added.

Formerly, Young was a senior aide on Capitol Hill and had been considered as the leading candidate for the role. 

As Deputy Budget Director, Young oversaw President Joe Biden’s first budget, which helped finalize the $1 trillion infrastructure law and was a key negotiator in the Biden administration’s first spending bill. This bill which was approved by Congress on Thursday.

As to be expected, members of the GOP objected to Young’s transition to the budget office because she supported ending the Hyde Amendment in the annual spending bills, which prohibits federal funds from going toward most abortions.

In a statement, Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, described Young as “smart, fair and knowledgeable.”

“As evidenced by the strong bipartisan confirmation vote she received, Shalanda Young is well known to many of us due to her years of experience on the House Appropriations Committee staff,” she said.

“It shouldn’t have taken this long to confirm someone as obviously qualified as Shalanda Young,” majority leader Senator Chuck Schumer added. “She’s proven capable of working with Republicans and Democrats alike.”