WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden unveiled two more ambassador nominees Wednesday, but the White House and Democrats warned that maneuvering by some Senate Republicans to block all but a small fraction of diplomatic and other national security appointees is doing serious harm to U.S. efforts around the globe.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has threatened to keep lawmakers who are eager to get home for Christmas at work in Washington into next week if progress isn’t made on the backlog of more than 70 ambassadorial nominees awaiting votes.
Biden administration officials acknowledge the president will almost certainly end his year with more ambassadorial vacancies than any of his recent predecessors and that the slowdown of ambassadorial and other national security picks has already had an impact on U.S. relations overseas.
“It’s long past time for GOP senators to get out of the way and let the Senate quickly confirm these national security nominees so they can advocate for the interests of the American people around the world,” said White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
As of Tuesday, only 13 of Biden’s 85 ambassadorial nominees have been confirmed by the Senate, according to the White House.
At the same point in the three previous administrations, presidents had far more of their diplomats confirmed. Donald Trump had 44 of his 60 nominees confirmed, Barack Obama 72 of 96, and George W. Bush 93 out of 103.
Much of the White House and Schumer’s frustration has been pointed toward a few Senate Republicans who have set roadblocks — most notably Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas — by using holds and other procedural maneuvering to slow dozens of ambassador and other appointments at the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State.
Republican pressure is also mounting on Cruz over the holds.
“We just need to get some people in place,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pointing to diplomatic vacancies such as those for China and Japan. He added: “It’s a dangerous world out there right now.”
Cruz on Wednesday said he had offered to lift holds on 16 nominees in exchange for a Senate vote on sanctioning the companies behind Nord Stream 2 — a Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline.
Critics on the both sides of the aisle have raised concerns that the pipeline will threaten European energy security by increasing the continent’s reliance on Russian gas and allowing Russia to exert political pressure on vulnerable Eastern and Central European nations, particularly Ukraine.
Schumer countered that the Texas Republican must lift his holds on all nominees from the State and Treasury departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“Let’s be clear about the nominees at issue. We aren’t talking about partisan firebrands or candidates that come out of left field. The bulk of these men and women are uncontroversial, by-the-book, professional public servants,” Schumer said.
