President Joe Biden reached 200 days in office on Saturday, but he has yet to see a single United States ambassador confirmed and lags behind his predecessors in total confirmed appointments at this point of a term.
As Fox News reported, Biden has nominated more than 60 ambassadors since taking office in January, though none have been confirmed by the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate.
Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have blamed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for the Democrats’ failure to confirm an ambassador. As a member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Cruz blocked several Biden appointees after the president in May lifted U.S. sanctions on the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
This lies in stark contrast to Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Trump appointed dozens of ambassadors in his first 200 days, five of whom were confirmed by the Senate before Aug. 7, 2017.
Several of Biden’s ambassador appointees are predictably troubling. Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s corrupt former mayor, is the nominee for Ambassador to Japan. For India, Biden appointed Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who allegedly covered up the sexual misconduct of a top aide. And for Australia, Biden appointed Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and an avowed Obama loyalist.
Biden has also struggled to get the Senate to confirm his judicial and other State Department nominees. Despite nominating people for 405 open positions, just 124 have been confirmed and instated, a success rate of just 30.6 percent.
In his first 200 days, President Donald Trump oversaw the confirmation of 126 nominees out of his 308 total appointees, a success rate of 40.9 percent. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were even more effective, respectively overseeing 64.9 percent and 56.5 percent of nominee confirmations during their first 200 days.
The only ambassador confirmed and instated under Biden is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who was confirmed by the Senate on February 23 and took office two days later. Biden has yet to appoint and confirm an American ambassador to an individual country.