WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to confirm Heath Tarbert to be an assistant secretary of the Treasury.

Tarbert is expected to oversee the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which assesses proposed transactions to ensure they do not harm national security.

Tarbert, now at the law firm Allen & Overy LLP, takes the reins of CFIUS at a time when the inter-agency panel has balked at approving deals involving China in areas as disparate as semiconductors, insurance and aluminum.