Move procedure: Cruz uses a committee rule that allows each member to delay the agenda item for one business meeting. This will only return the confirmation of the Thomas-Greenfield committee confirmation one day, as the Foreign Relations Committee met again on Wednesday and Thursday.
“We have a backup business meeting for Thursday with that in mind,” said a spokesman for the top Democrat on the committee, Senator Bob Menendez (NJ). The administration of Biden did not immediately comment.
Accusation trial awaits: Cruz is hopeful that the delay will mean the full Senate will not be able to vote on the nomination of Thomas-Greenfield before the body goes into its indictment for former President Donald Trump. Senate leaders have not yet agreed whether lawmakers will be able to do other business during the trial, which begins Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer may push through the nomination by holding lawmakers in the city over the weekend, but it may be unpopular with members before another grueling trial begins.
Symbolic statement: The move is unlikely to overshadow the nomination of Thomas-Greenfield, who is expected to win the support of both Democrats and some moderate Republicans if it gets the word out. But Cruz wants to draw attention to what he sees as President Joe Biden’s nominees taking a more conciliatory approach to Beijing than the Trump administration. He had earlier taken a similar step in postponing a Trump nominee as head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration over questions about Internet governance issues.
Concerns over Cruz China continue: Cruz had earlier expressed similar concern about the nominee for trade minister Gina Raimondo after she refused to commit to keeping Chinese technology companies like Huawei on her department’s blacklist. Raimondo, meanwhile, withdrew in written responses before her committee’s vote Wednesday.
And Cruz also urged Foreign Minister Tony Blinken on whether he wanted to blacklist Chinese oversight firms for their role in the human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, which the Foreign Ministry called a genocide.
What’s next: The Foreign Relations Committee is unlikely to meet on Wednesday, as the nomination vote was the only agenda item, but will pick up again on Thursday with a vote.