Your confirmation gives those candidates a different level of standing.

And that is not just for the political appointees.

if we mattered to you, you would have someone here, right?

Thanks, Chairman Sanders, thanks to the panel.

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, we did not have an ambassador in Egypt.

It seems like a big issue to me.

We need our diplomats out and development experts out in the field showing up, actively engaged, representing the United States.

Is there not also kind of an informal power that comes in the reverse if you do not have a confirmed nominee?

When the Houthis started to fire at U.S. and other ships in the Red Sea, we did not have an ambassador in Djibouti.

if somebody on the Senate is holding you up, and it is secret, you do not even have the ability to...

We need our diplomats out and development experts out in the field showing up, actively engaged, representing the United States.

if we mattered to you, you would have someone here, right?

if somebody on the Senate is holding you up, and it is secret, you do not even have the ability to...

Your confirmation gives those candidates a different level of standing.

the Senate holds on ambassadorial nominees are harming our national interest.

We had no ambassador in country. That coup has led to a government that now wants to kick the U.S. out.

When the security situation in Haiti spiraled downward, we had no ambassador in place.

When the Houthis started to fire at U.S. and other ships in the Red Sea, we did not have an ambassador in Djibouti.