Politico | Ted Cruz delays vote on Joe Biden’s UN nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield over China comments
- The senator cited a speech Thomas-Greenfield gave at a Confucius Institute in 2019 saying both the US and China could be positive influences in Africa
- The UN ambassador nominee tried to walk those comments back during her confirmation hearing last week, calling China a ‘strategic adversary’
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Gavin Bade on politico.com on February 2, 2021.
US Senator Ted Cruz is delaying a vote on UN ambassador nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over her past comments on China, according to a person familiar with the plan, potentially pushing her final confirmation vote into the slog of the Senate’s impeachment trial.
China speech at stake: Cruz is concerned about a speech Thomas-Greenfield gave in 2019 at a Confucius Institute funded by the Chinese government during which she said both the US and China could be positive influences in Africa.
Thomas-Greenfield tried to walk those comments back during her confirmation hearing, calling China a “strategic adversary”. But Cruz is not satisfied with her remarks and remains concerned she will be soft on Beijing.
Procedural move: Cruz is utilising a committee rule that allows any member to delay consideration of an agenda item for one business meeting. That will push Thomas-Greenfield’s committee confirmation vote back only one day, since the Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled back-to-back meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.
“We have a backup business meeting in place for Thursday with this in mind,” said a spokesperson for the top Democrat on the committee, Senator Bob Menendez. On Tuesday night, the committee officially rescheduled the meeting and added Thomas-Greenfield‘s nomination to Thursday’s agenda.