Republicans continue to issue holds on President Joe Biden’s ambassadorial picks, creating a logjam on more than 50 nominees for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, reports The Hill.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has blocked dozens of State Department nominees from receiving floor votes over the Biden administration’s refusal to place sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., last month threatened to delay all of Biden’s nominees to the State Department and Pentagon unless Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin resign.
“Republicans who are holding up these nominees are endangering our national security, making it harder for our country to respond to threats at home and abroad,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Tuesday night, ahead of objections voiced by Hawley against the quick confirmation of at least eight nominees.
Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, has opposed hearings and committee votes for several nominees because he says they are still being vetted, including Biden’s nominee for ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann, and Biden’s nominee for ambassador to monitor and combat antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt.
Gutmann has been criticized over her contacts with China as president of the University of Pennsylvania.
“The fact of the matter is that it's not going to be a situation where we're going to roll over on ones that we're not done with,” Risch said during a committee business meeting on Wednesday, according to the Hill.
Risch’s refusal to hold a hearing for Lipstadt has gotten pushback from the Anti-Defamation League and two prominent Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Orthodox Union, reports the Hill.
Three-hundred and fifty former senior government officials in the foreign service and national security sphere have also pushed back.
“The resulting vacancies have damaged U.S. national security and our ability to address international threats. We ask for your urgent attention to resolving this situation,” reads a letter sent by the organized by Foreign Policy for America, a nonpartisan advocacy organization.
“In addition to placing the United States at a strategic disadvantage, Washington has sent an unfortunate message of neglect and indifference.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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