Confirmed Appointments

Partisan agendas cause many diplomatic seats around the world to be empty as Republicans are unwilling to confirm Democratic appointees. This is especially true after Democrats created rules to slow down appointments and eliminate shortcuts. In fact, some positions have been unfilled for over a year. These vacancies are rehabilitating to U.S. foreign policy interests. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez D. said, "The vacancies are in some of the most critical countries in the world in terms of national-security issues." The Wall Street Journal created the below chart to show that the average waiting time for approval was 238 days. 



 This week 14 of Obama's appointments were confirmed by the Senate. Two district judges were confined Tuesday as well as ambassadors to Vietnam, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the United Arab Emirates. A list of all confirmed appointments can be found at the U.S. Senate's website. Democrats are making a big push to get appointments through before the Republicans take control of the Senate. This new push shows some measure of bipartisanship in the Senate.

Here is Politico's covering of the Story.