Amy Klobuchar: “as I said, this has been a bipartisan effort to get these two nominees confirmed. There is no one holding up the vote on…”

“as I said, this has been a bipartisan effort to get these two nominees confirmed. There is no one holding up the vote on these nominations except for Senator Cruz. We asked him to remove these holds. He has not voiced any concerns about these individual nominees. He has voiced concerns about unrelated foreign policy issues. There have been other holds in the past, but everyone has lifted their hold. I note that even Senator Cotton from Arkansas has said that there are no issues with the qualifications of these nominees and that these nominees should proceed to a vote. As I said, this is the fifth time I have come to the floor. I have also been joined by Senator Cardin, Senator Shaheen, and Senator Franken. This is something that has to get done. Listen to these numbers: Sam Heins has been waiting for 293 days to be confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to Norway. Azita Raji has been waiting 474 days to be confirmed as the first female U.S. Ambassador to Sweden. Both of these nominees were voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee without controversy and with significant bipartisan support. Not a single Senator has questioned the qualifications of Sam Heins or Azita Raji. That is because they are both qualified to take these jobs. We have an ambassador in France. We have an ambassador in England. We have an ambassador in Italy. We have an ambassador in Germany. We have an ambassador to nearly every European nation but not these two Scandinavian countries.…”