The Senate overwhelmingly approved the nomination of Martha Johnson to lead the General Services Administration on Thursday, giving the agency its first permanent leader since the resignation of Lurita Doan in 2008.

President Obama first tapped Johnson, who served as GSA's chief of staff from 1996 through 2001, to lead the agency in April. After flying through the confirmation hearing in June, a full Senate vote on her nomination was delayed by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. Bond placed a hold on her nomination last summer because he wanted assurances that a $175 million plan to relocate tenants of a GSA-owned Bannister Federal Complex from suburban to downtown Kansas City, Mo., would still become a reality under the new administration. GSA had altered the plans for the downtown relocation, turning it from a lease to a federally owned and constructed project.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed for a cloture vote on Johnson's nomination last week following Obama's thinly veiled State of the Union criticism of Bond for holding up a nomination to protect a "pet project." Obama again criticized Bond for the hold Wednesday, saying Bond held Johnson and GSA hostage over a matter that had nothing to do with her abilities to lead the government's procurement and real estate agency.

Before joining GSA in 1996, Johnson was assistant deputy secretary for the Commerce Department. Since leaving government in 2001, she has held positions with key government contractors. From 2002 through 2007, she was vice president at SRA International. SRA received $1 billion in government business in fiscal 2008, according to USASpending.gov. In 2007 she joined Computer Sciences Corp., where she served as a vice president. CSC received $4.5 billion worth of government contracts in fiscal 2008, according to USASpending.gov.