Cloture was invoked on Pizzella's nomination on April 11, 2018, and he was confirmed as Deputy Secretary on the following day, by identical 50-48 votes on the Senate floor. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell remarked, "The fact that this Cabinet agency has gone 15 months without its No. 2 official is yet another testament to the historic obstruction visited on this administration by Senate Democrats."
Pizzella is married to Mary Joy "M.J." Jameson, former senior business development executive for Google, a senior public affairs aide in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, now serving on the Clemson University Foundation Board.