WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Senate in a letter Monday to confirm more than 60 State Department nominees who have been blocked by Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, as he seeks information from the administration about the origins of covid-19. 19
Last month, Paul blocked all State Department nominees from passing Senate confirmation, citing his longstanding request that the department release additional information about the origins of Covid and related government-funded research.
Sixty-two diplomatic candidates are awaiting Senate confirmation, including 38 nominees for ambassadorial posts, according to the official. All but three of the ambassadorial candidates are career foreign service workers, and some of their appointments have languished in the Senate for more than 18 months, the official said.
At a news conference Monday, Blinken accused Paul of placing a “blanket hold” on State Department nominees and hindering the standard filing process “to influence other unrelated issues.” The senator’s blockade, Blinken said, is “irresponsible.”
“My message to the Senate today is this: Let them serve. Put our best team on the field,” Blinken said. “Stop harming our national security through unwarranted delays and unprecedented obstruction.”
In a statement to NBC News, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the agency has “extensively” cooperated with Paul’s demands by providing him with “documents and other information” but that the senator “continues to block all State Department nominees.
Miller added that without ambassadors in place, US adversaries “fill the void” of US leadership abroad and said Paul is hampering the confirmation process over unrelated political disputes.
“[I]In too many places around the world, we don’t have an ambassador today because Senator Paul is blocking confirmation for reasons that have nothing to do with the candidate’s qualifications,” Miller said.
