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Canada is about to have a U.S. ambassador once more. It is solely taken greater than two years. However a logjam broke Tuesday night within the U.S. Senate, as David Cohen’s appointment was allowed to proceed.
The Philadelphia telecom exec will head to Ottawa after the Senate agreed unanimously to approve his appointment in a voice vote.
The event got here amid flared tempers between Democrats and Republicans within the chamber over the alleged systematic blocking of President Joe Biden’s diplomatic appointments.
On Tuesday night, Democrats learn out a listing of names they hoped to verify by unanimous consent, together with ambassadors to Israel, NATO and Canada.
Within the U.S., ambassadorial nominations require approval by the Senate, and Democrat Robert Menendez criticized his opponents for slow-walking scores of nominees; he talked about Canada as one instance.
“How does [blocking] the ambassador to Canada really advance U.S. pursuits? It doesn’t. It’s critically detrimental to our nationwide safety,” he mentioned.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley then proceeded to dam unanimous consent for a sequence of nominees, saying in some instances he was performing on his personal behalf and in others on behalf of colleagues who had objections.
He mentioned these nominations deserved a full debate and votes — just like the NATO appointment, to get a greater sense of how the Biden administration intends to press allies to fulfill navy spending commitments.
Hawley criticized Democrats for going to the Glasgow local weather summit as a substitute of staying within the chamber to have full debates on nominations.
Prime Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer ridiculed the concept blocking so many nominations in any method served the American nationwide curiosity.
“The consequence? Scores of empty desks within the State Division, in our embassies, in our Division of Treasury and different businesses,” Schumer mentioned.
“These nominees are usually not controversial. They’re routinely confirmed by consent on this chamber, till a couple of folks determined that they needed to make a giant present of this. For no matter purpose. Nobody ever did this earlier than.”
After that alternate, Hawley saved blocking consent for nominees.
Then when Cohen’s title got here up one thing uncommon occurred: No one raised their voice to object, and the Senate recorded the brand new diplomat as being confirmed as heading to Ottawa.
The U.S. hasn’t had an official ambassador at its Ottawa embassy for the reason that departure of Kelly Craft in early 2019, when she was appointed by Donald Trump to symbolize the U.S. on the United Nations.
At his latest affirmation listening to, Cohen was requested about Canada’s China technique and he mentioned the Biden administration regarded ahead to seeing one.
He arrives in Ottawa amid unresolved tensions over vitality points, with uncertainty over the Line 5 oil pipeline, and commerce: Ottawa has registered deep displeasure with a Buy American-style policy on electrical autos.
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