basquebromance
Diamond Member
- Nov 26, 2015
- 109,396
- 27,002
- 2,220
- Banned
- #1
one senator shouldn't have all this power...not even Lyin Ted!
www.politico.com
excerpts:
Cruz isn’t backing down from the broader battle, though. “Americans and people across the world understand the importance of halting the Biden-Putin pipeline,” a senior Cruz staffer told POLITICO. The aide wouldn’t say if there’s anything the administration can offer the lawmaker to lift the holds short of imposing all of the sanctions on Nord Stream 2.
Administration officials have been in “constant, near-daily” contact with Cruz and his staffers, in hopes of getting more nominees through before the Senate break for its August recess, a senior State Department official said. But Cruz has resisted the administration’s main argument: that his recalcitrance is damaging to U.S. national interests and national security.
Biden explained his pipeline decision during a July press conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "By the time I became president, it was 90 percent completed," he said, "and imposing sanctions did not seem to make any sense. It made more sense to work with the chancellor on finding out how she’d proceed based on whether or not Russia tried to, essentially, blackmail Ukraine in some way."
That doesn't satisfy Cruz, and he's pushing the president to change his mind. The administration “has repeatedly said their waiver of sanctions can be rescinded. Well, good. [They’ve] laid out the path forward: Rescind the waiver and actually follow the law,” Cruz told POLITICO in his Senate office last month. “And when they rescind the waiver, I will happily lift my holds. State has it within their power to lift the holds any time they want.”
Getting around Cruz, however, will require Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to spend precious floor hours pushing through State nominees, time he’d rather spend getting other parts of the president’s domestic agenda through Congress. It was Schumer who blew past Cruz’s hold to confirm Bonnie Jenkins as the undersecretary of State for arms control by forcing a vote on the nomination.
“The Senate is built on this idea of mutuality and shame,” the senior State Department official said. “If someone doesn’t have that sense of shame about essentially kneecapping an important national security agency, there’s no magic button that you can push."
Texas hold ’em: Biden aides push Cruz to lift ‘death grip’ on nominees
The Republican, upset about Nord Stream 2, is blocking State Department candidates en masse.
www.politico.com
excerpts:
Cruz isn’t backing down from the broader battle, though. “Americans and people across the world understand the importance of halting the Biden-Putin pipeline,” a senior Cruz staffer told POLITICO. The aide wouldn’t say if there’s anything the administration can offer the lawmaker to lift the holds short of imposing all of the sanctions on Nord Stream 2.
Administration officials have been in “constant, near-daily” contact with Cruz and his staffers, in hopes of getting more nominees through before the Senate break for its August recess, a senior State Department official said. But Cruz has resisted the administration’s main argument: that his recalcitrance is damaging to U.S. national interests and national security.
Biden explained his pipeline decision during a July press conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "By the time I became president, it was 90 percent completed," he said, "and imposing sanctions did not seem to make any sense. It made more sense to work with the chancellor on finding out how she’d proceed based on whether or not Russia tried to, essentially, blackmail Ukraine in some way."
That doesn't satisfy Cruz, and he's pushing the president to change his mind. The administration “has repeatedly said their waiver of sanctions can be rescinded. Well, good. [They’ve] laid out the path forward: Rescind the waiver and actually follow the law,” Cruz told POLITICO in his Senate office last month. “And when they rescind the waiver, I will happily lift my holds. State has it within their power to lift the holds any time they want.”
Getting around Cruz, however, will require Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to spend precious floor hours pushing through State nominees, time he’d rather spend getting other parts of the president’s domestic agenda through Congress. It was Schumer who blew past Cruz’s hold to confirm Bonnie Jenkins as the undersecretary of State for arms control by forcing a vote on the nomination.
“The Senate is built on this idea of mutuality and shame,” the senior State Department official said. “If someone doesn’t have that sense of shame about essentially kneecapping an important national security agency, there’s no magic button that you can push."
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