The Senate confirmed more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden administration nominees early Saturday after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to schedule a vote on the sanctions against the company behind the Nord Stream 2 gas line.
Schumer threatened to keep the Senate in session as long as it took to break the logjam on a broad array of diplomatic and national security nominees.
Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, was confirmed to serve as ambassador to Japan by a vote of 48-21. Nominees to be ambassadors to Spain, Vietnam and Somalia were confirmed by voice vote. The votes came after an agreement was reached to hold a vote on the sanctions.
The confirmation process has been frustrating for new presidential administrations. The struggle for staff administrations is getting worse.
Democrats are worried about holds that a few GOP senators placed on nominees to raise objections about foreign policy matters that had nothing to do with the nominee. The holds don't prevent a nominee from being confirmed, but they do require the Senate to debate the nominee for hours. When nominations are approved in committee with the support of senators from both parties, positions requiring Senate confirmation can go unfilled for several months.
Biden administration officials acknowledge that the president will end his year with more ambassadorial vacancies than recent predecessors and that the slowdown of ambassadorial and other national security picks has already had an impact on U.S. relations overseas.
Cruz objected to the administration's waiving of sanctions against the firm overseeing the project, and he held up dozens of nominees at the departments of State and Treasury. At the time, the administration said it opposed the project but thought it was a done deal. Trying to stop it would hurt relations with Germany.
Critics on both sides of the aisle have raised concerns that the project will threaten European energy security by increasing the reliance on Russian gas and allowing Russia to exert political pressure on vulnerable Eastern and Central European nations.
Schumer demanded that Cruz lift his holds on nominees at the two Cabinet departments as well as the US Agency for International Development as part of any possible agreement on the sanctions. Cruz said he was willing to let go of the holds on the nominees. The two sides traded offers.
Cruz thinks there should be a reasonable middle ground solution.
Democrats were intent on making progress on Biden's nominees, but they also thought it was too little and late.
Let's face it. The Senate has little to celebrate when it comes to nominations.
The New Jersey Democrat blamed some Republicans for training the system to the breaking point and leaving the nation weakened.
He said that something is going to happen in one of these places and we will not be there to protect ourselves.
Four years ago, Democrats tried to prevent many of President Donald Trump's nominees from being confirmed in a timely manner, according to Sen. Roy Blunt.
"Sen. Schumer doesn't have a lot of clean hands here," he said.
Eight Republicans voted with a majority of Democrats to confirm Emanuel. Three Democrats voted against his confirmation.
