PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the nomination of Zachary Cunha to be the next U.S. attorney for Rhode Island.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse said in a statement Thursday that the nomination now heads to the full Senate.

Cunha was nominated by President Joe Biden in September on the advice of Reed and Whitehouse.

Cunha is currently chief of the civil division for the U.S. attorney’s office in Rhode Island.

The U.S. attorney is the top federal law enforcement official in the state responsible for overseeing an office that prosecutes federal cases in Rhode Island.