Senate Panel Clears Way for Vote on Power as Ambassador to U.N. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee overwhelmingly approved Samantha Power on Tuesday to be ambassador to the United Nations, clearing the way for a vote in the full Senate. All but 3 of the panel's 18 members voted in favor of Ms. Power, who was expected to win confirmation easily. Ms. Power had been criticized by some conservatives for seeming to suggest, in a 2002 interview, that the Army might be needed to police the Middle East conflict if either Israel or the Palestinians move toward genocide. The committee also overwhelmingly approved Victoria Nuland, a foreign policy official in both Democratic and Republican administrations, as an assistant secretary of state.