U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez issued a statement Thursday seemingly criticizing Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) blocking of votes on diplomatic nominees.
Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J) called out his fellow Republican committee members for “needless obstruction” in the statement, but specifically highlighted the “blatant refusal by one member” against the progression of “well-qualified nominees.”
Paul’s vote-blocking tactic is an attempt to gain information from President Biden’s administration on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have made numerous offers to provide access to documents in the Committee’s possession and accommodate requests for information, but these attempts have been met with continued obstruction and further, more unreasonable demands,” Menendez said in the statement. “I refuse to let this Committee’s work be disrupted by such antics.”
Paul responded to Menedez’s comments in a statement to NBC News, stating he is looking for more documents than those he already has access to and can only read in private, specifically documents from USAID.
“I actually like approving ambassadors, I almost never have blocked any ambassadors, I will let them all go, but it’s gonna take some cooperation,” Paul told NBC News. “Biden has the ability to do it, Blinken has the ability. You think Blinken can’t pick up the phone and call the head of USAID and say, ‘Dammit, we need our ambassadors.’ But it’s the only leverage I have.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote a letter to Senators Monday calling on them to allow the confirmation of the nominees and warning of the possible negative effects of the backup of the nominees’ confirmations.
“If the new standard is that career State nominees are subject to holds unrelated to the merits of their nominations, and must be individually confirmed by floor vote, then our leadership and standing in the world will suffer, with dozens of continuous vacancies that will take years to resolve, if ever,” Blinken wrote in the letter.
He added, “Our diplomatic strength will be weakened and competitors will gain at our expense.
The Hill has reached out to Paul’s office for comment.