Senate confirms Obama nominees that Cruz had repeatedly blocked
The Senate on Friday confirmed a handful of State Department nominees that Sen. Ted Cruz had been blocking amid his presidential run.
The Senate approved the nominations of Azita Raji to be ambassador to Sweden, Samuel Heins to be an ambassador to Norway and John Estrada to be an ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Brian Egan to be a legal adviser to the State Department and Thomas Shannon to be an under secretary of State for political affairs by a voice vote.
{mosads}Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asked for consent to bring up the nominations during the Senate’s brief Friday session.
Before Friday, Republican senators had blocked each of the nominees on behalf of Cruz, who has been away from Washington.
The Texas Republican has been campaigning in early-voting states, but has pledged to block State Department nominees over the Iran nuclear deal. He is scheduled to campaign in South Carolina on Friday.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, had also been blocking Egan’s nomination amid his battle with the State Department over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and top aides.
The Iowa Republican, however, removed his hold this week.
Grassley’s office said he lifted his hold because the State Department has started to respond to more of his requests and because of an agreement with White House counsel to “ensure that the Department provides specific documents and witnesses.”
The Senate also passed Cruz’s legislation to rename the street in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington after a Chinese dissident.
Cruz had tried to get a similar measure passed by the Senate but was blocked on the floor by Democrats, who argued that the measure would only antagonize the Chinese government.
The Texas Republican wants to name the street in front of the embassy “Liu Xiaobo Plaza” after Liu Xiaobo, a human rights activist currently imprisoned in China. He also wants to make the embassy’s address “1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza.”
The Senate also confirmed David McKean to be an ambassador to Luxembourg and Sunil Sabharwal to be a U.S. alternative executive director of the International Monetary Fund.
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