We can’t let Ted Cruz get away with this

| 4:01 pm EDT October 28, 2021
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During the Obama administration, we had to deal with roadblocks from Mitch McConnell. Ted Cruz has taken his place with the Biden administration, and his roadblocks are making foreign policy difficult for President Biden. Now, President Biden is heading abroad with few ambassadors confirmed. Cruz seems to be making it his personal mission to see President Biden fail, which is not the way things are supposed to work. If our President fails, we all fail, but Republicans cannot seem to get that through their thick skulls.

According to Washington Post, only one of President Biden’s ambassador choices had been approved, Ken Salazar, ambassador to Mexico, which happened in August. Others were held hostage by Cruz. Four were finally confirmed: Jeff Flake, ambassador to Turkey; Tom Udall, ambassador to New Zealand; Victoria Reggie Kennedy, ambassador to Austria; and Cindy McCain, ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. Cruz is using these nominees as ransom in his own personal blackmail scheme.

Cruz wants the Biden administration to place sanctions on the company behind Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany, which some believe will give Putin leverage over the rest of Europe. Funny, Cruz never complained about Russia when Putin’s friend Trump was in office, but suddenly, this is a national security issue. Cruz is an ass. No one elected him to oversee national security, and he knows that. Chris Murphy, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that dealing with Cruz is like “negotiating with a terrorist.” As Murphy said: “The people of this country did not elect him or his party to represent us abroad. And what he’s asking for is to control American foreign policy.” That is exactly what Cruz is doing, and it should not be tolerated. Another Democrat sees Cruz’s behavior in a different light, and he is not far off the mark. “At the end of the day, it’s not my job to make his presidential ambitions happen,” said Robert Menendez, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. These men deal with foreign policy; Cruz does not. He needs to try to make things happen for his constituents and stop trying to run things over which he has no control or authority.

Interfering in foreign policy will not elevate Cruz. All it can do is cripple President Biden’s foreign relations goals. If Cruz wants to run foreign policy, he should try running for president again. He likely will get no farther than he did the last time. Lawmakers like Ted Cruz are the reason that we cannot get things accomplished in Washington. Though he cannot indefinitely hold up these nominees while Democrats have the majority, he can certainly make things difficult and use up time that could be used for other agenda items. This is all part of Cruz’s plan to make life difficult for President Biden. It is a damned shame that people elected to public office must behave in such an unprofessional, uncalled for manner to the detriment of our entire country.