More than nine months in his presidency, fewer than 40% of Biden's State Department nominees have been confirmed. A big part of the reason says Rice University political scientist Mark Jones, is the state's junior senator Ted Cruz.
"Him alone. This is actually a clear cut case where Ted Cruz pretty much by himself has insured the United States is under-represented in it's diplomatic missions throughout the world because of his blocking of dozens of ambassadorial appointments" said Jones.
Jones says Cruz is digging in because he is opposed to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will move natural gas from Russia to Europe beneath the Baltic Sea. He says Cruz is upset with the Biden Administration's refusal to take a harsher stand on the pipeline, not that the president could do much. He wants the president to put more pressure on our European allies to block full utilization of that pipeline. "This is a good issue with Republican voters for Cruz on two fronts. One, he is standing up to Russia. Two, he is standing up for the US oil and natural gas industry in terms of the European export market."
In order to get work done in the senate, they have a process called unanimous consent. That allows them to bypass most of the senate's normal rules and effectively rubber-stamp things through. "It only takes one senator to object to unanimous consent and thereby force the senate to follow all of it's rules for every single executive appointment, even if it's completely non-controversial. Which can turn something that could be done in five minutes into a five hour, ten hour or 20 hour process on the floor."
There are ambassador vacancies around the globe. "The senate is an institution who's rules are built around the idea of consensus, and Senator Cruz is not a very consensual person and many senators would say that he is abusing the senate's practices of consensus for a partisan and personal gain."
There is always an interim ambassador, but they don't enjoy the full status of an appointed ambassador who speaks for the president. "While there is technical interim head of every embassy, they lack the standing and gravitates that an ambassador has. Therefore, the US government is less well represented in capitols throughout the world than it would be without senator Cruz's obstructionism."
He says "This is purely Ted Cruz grandstanding to get exposure as someone who is fighting against the Biden administration and proving he can disrupt things when he wants to.
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