Rubio Puts Hold on Biden’s Ambassador Picks for China, Spain

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Marco Rubio placed holds on President Joe Biden’s ambassador picks for China and Spain, a procedural move that will add to the delays the White House has faced getting its envoys to embassies around the world.

Nicholas Burns, Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Beijing, doesn’t understand the threat posed by China’s leaders, Rubio, a Florida Republican, said in a statement on Tuesday. “The last thing we need is another caretaker of American decline in the room with the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

The Florida lawmaker said Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon, Biden’s nominee for Spain and First Lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff, is an apologist of the former Castro regime in Cuba and “has absolutely no business being in our government.” He added that he was confident she wouldn’t pressure authoritarian regimes in Nicaragua or Venezuela.

Biden has seen his nominees for several national security posts, including ambassadors and assistant secretary nominees at the State and Treasury Departments, snagged by such procedural moves from Senate Republicans. But until Rubio’s holds, Burns had seemed headed for a quick confirmation because Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who has stalled several nominees, said filling the China post was too important to delay.

“President Biden is quickly working to restore America’s position on the world stage, and he’s moved swiftly to nominate well-qualified ambassadors who have earned Republican and Democratic support,” Chris Meagher, a White House spokesman, said Tuesday night. “But instead of putting politics aside, Senate Republicans have led an unprecedented effort of obstruction by blocking dozens of President Biden’s nominees and preventing them from advancing America’s national security interests.”

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