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Democratic U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen lambasted her Republican colleagues Thursday evening for blocking the confirmation of President Joe Biden’s EU ambassador nominee.
In a fiery floor speech, Shaheen said the Republicans were crippling U.S. foreign policy and playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin by blocking the nomination of Mark Gitenstein, Biden’s pick for the EU post, along with more than 50 others diplomatic nominations.
Gitenstein, a close friend of the president and longtime aide to Biden when he served in the Senate, is a lawyer and was previously U.S. ambassador to Romania during the Obama administration. Shaheen complained that Republicans had no justification for blocking Gitenstein’s confirmation given his qualifications.
“Mark is a qualified candidate to represent the U.S. with our most important trade and security relationship,” she said. “His confirmation would be important to advance our bilateral conversations on shared national security interests, such as this week’s dialogue between the United States and the EU, on China.”
Some Republican senators have said they are delaying confirmation of Biden’s nominees in part to convey their unhappiness that Biden has not been tougher in opposing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany. But Shaheen, noting her own personal opposition to Nord Stream 2, said the Republicans were actually undermining U.S. foreign policy, including potential efforts to convince the new German government to block regulatory approval needed for the pipeline to begin operating.
“There are over 50 other State Department nominees awaiting confirmation on the floor,” Shaheen said. “Now, if our colleagues on the other side of the aisle really shared the concerns about Russia and China’s growing, malign influence in the world that threatens the values we’ve fought so hard to advance, they would lift these holds without delay.”
Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, pushed back against the criticism and told Shaheen Democrats should put more pressure on Biden.
“The simplest way to deter invasion of Ukraine, the simplest way to deter Russian aggression is to draw clear red lines and enforce them — something that Joe Biden will not do, something that apparently the Democratic senators will not force him to do,” Cotton said.
Shaheen, who is under sanction by Russia, reacted furiously to the accusation.
“I just have to take real umbrage at your suggestion, Senator Cotton,” she said. “I’m the one who Vladimir Putin refused a visa to get into Russia because of my opposition to Russia and to what Putin was doing. He didn’t deny you a visa to get into the country. So don’t talk to me about how I’ve not been tough enough on Russia, because that dog won’t hunt.”
Source: Politico
