The United States Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday confirmed the nomination of economic policy maker Kenneth Juster as the next ambassador to India. The next hurdle for Juster is to get the approval of the full Senate.

Juster’s nomination was approved through a voice vote.

In September, the US had formally announced Juster’s nomination. He is the deputy assistant to President Donald Trump for international economic affairs and the deputy director of his National Economic Council.

India has not had a US ambassador since Trump assumed office in January this year. If nominated and confirmed by the US Senate, Juster will succeed Richard Verma. The White House had unofficially announced Juster would be their envoy in India in June, but had not made any formal decision after that.

Juster studied law at Harvard Law School, has a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a bachelor’s degree in government, also from Harvard.