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The Senate confirmed new heads of the Labor Department and Environmental Protection Agency on July 18, making the U.N. ambassador nominee the only cabinet -level position awaiting Senate confirmation. Thomas Perez was confirmed as labor secretary by a 54-46 vote along party lines, and Gina McCarthy was approved as the next EPA administrator by a 59-40 vote . The two received a vote after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed not to change filibuster rules in exchange for Republicans abstaining from filibusters over certain Obama administration nominees.