Almost two years after President Biden stepped into office, nearly a dozen ambassadors to key Western countries are still not in place.
Almost two years after President Joe Biden stepped into office, nearly a dozen ambassadors to key countries in the Western Hemisphere are still not in place, with eight nominees having their confirmation hearings put on hold by a Republican senator — all during a pivotal time in the region.
“This is the worst it’s ever been,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, a former State Department official and diplomat. “It’s been a trend for a long time. In other words, it gets worse with every administration.” In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, “It is unfortunate that Republican obstruction continues to delay these much needed appointments to a number of critical roles, many of whom would help our government respond to recent political transitions in Latin America."
“It’s an embarrassment,” said Michael Shifter, the former president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C., think tank. “It reinforces the perception that the U.S. doesn’t care about Latin America.”Out of 49 State Department nominees pending in the Senate, less than 20 of them are on the floor. Almost half of those on the Senate floor are from the Western Hemisphere.
Farnsworth said part of the problem causing vacant ambassadorships is that “the political atmosphere in Washington gets more poisoned every cycle. Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, you’re trying to get the other team.” Ambassadors officially represent the U.S. in a foreign country and have a level of authority that diplomatic officials of other ranks don’t have. Ambassadors have the political weight to push things through the White House, while diplomatic officials of other ranks may be more risk-averse.The holdup in ambassadorships comes at a time when Latin America is facing significant challenges.
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