Cruz blocks State Department nominees because of pipeline dispute

 Politico:

The secretary of State is lighting up Capitol Hill phone lines. His underlings are using committee hearings and private exchanges to raise alarms. An outside letter-writing campaign is not out of the question. And if things get really bad, President Joe Biden himself may have to say something.

But will any of this growing pressure move Sen. Ted Cruz to stop blocking the confirmations of State Department nominees? An increasingly frustrated Biden administration is simply not sure.

Nearly seven months since he took office, only 10 of Biden’s State Department nominees have been confirmed. Dozens more, including some 60 would-be ambassadors, face what one person familiar with the situation called Cruz’s “death grip.” Other senators have put holds on nominees, but none has enforced such a blanket block without an easy path through it as Cruz.

The Texas Republican is blocking State Department nominees en masse because he is upset that Biden waived some sanctions related to Nord Stream 2, a Russian-German energy pipeline project that the United States has long opposed.

Cruz has used a mix of procedural moves in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and on the full chamber’s floor to delay the confirmation process and needle the administration. His actions have two effects: They either delay nominees’ votes, like when Cruz held over a batch of Biden picks from a SFRC business meeting on July 28 to another on Aug. 4. Or they outright block the full Senate from finally confirming a nominee.

Cruz also has been vocal about his intentions, leading to intense negotiations between him, his staff and administration officials.
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But Cruz is adamant that Biden’s decision to end sanctions on the pipeline is a historically bad one, arguing that it gives Russia more influence in Central Europe and hurts Ukraine financially. Nord Stream 2 is over 90 percent complete, and he’s worked closely with both parties in Congress to ensure it doesn’t reach 100 percent. That’s why Cruz continually says publicly and privately that he’ll maintain the holds until Biden imposes all of the congressionally mandated sanctions on the pipeline.
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Biden's decision to end the sanctions was among many of the really dumb things he has done since taking office.  It is also a good political issue for Republicans angered by his decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline in the US on his first day in office.  That was another seriously bad move that hurt American jobs and energy security.